Park Hoon-jung’s ‘Sad Tropics’ wins top prize at France’s 32nd L’Étrange Festival, takes ‘Nouveau Genre Grand Prize’ for two-award sweep in Europe

A blood-soaked revenge saga that surges like an opera, with mise-en-scène drawing global critical acclaim

‘Sad Tropics,’ the upcoming film from Korean noir master Park Hoon-jung, has completely captivated European audiences. By winning the top honor in the international competition at the 32nd L’Étrange Festival in Paris, the film once again demonstrated the unparalleled standing of Korean action cinema to audiences around the world.

Foreign distributor Finecut officially announced on the 16th that ‘Sad Tropics’ had won the ‘Nouveau Genre Grand Prize’ at the festival.

The film is an ‘action noir’ about the children of an assassin organization meticulously raised by ‘Sabu,’ the undisputed ruler of a tropical rainforest. An unexpected incident plants seeds of suspicion among them and drives them to vow merciless revenge. The taut psychological warfare between the characters and hard-hitting action keep audiences on edge throughout the film.

Marc Trunnen, a programmer at L’Étrange Festival, praised the film’s commanding direction and breakneck pace. He called it “an intensely building ‘action thriller’ like an opera,” adding that it was “a superb work that races headlong toward a rage-filled climax as if there were no tomorrow.”

Held every September in Paris, L’Étrange Festival is a prestigious showcase for original and provocative genre films from around the world. It has previously drawn attention by inviting major Korean films including ‘Exhuma’, ‘Concrete Utopia’ and ‘The Spy Gone North’.

This award was no fluke. ‘Sad Tropics’ won the ‘Silver Raven’ in the international competition at the 44th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival before receiving an official invitation to the 58th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, marking a run of wins and invitations at major European fantastic film festivals.

Director Park Hoon-jung has continually expanded the horizons of Korean genre cinema through films including ‘The New World’ (2013), ‘The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion’ (2018) and ‘Night in Paradise’ (2021). His new film, ‘Sad Tropics,’ infused with his sharp, unyielding vision, is currently speeding through postproduction. With global film fans watching closely, the filmmakers are coordinating the timing of its domestic release.