It’s Game On With Hunt @TIFF 2022

Are you still not convinced of Korean cinema? Then go see the film Hunt during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Squid Game‘s Lee Jung-jae makes his directorial debut and stars in this 80s-set thriller. He plays an intelligence chief who uncovers a plot to assassinate the South Korean president. At the same time, he is hunting prey that is important to him most. A mole within his agency.

Jung Woo-sung plays the other elite agent tracking down the North Korean spy leaking top secret information. This 125-minute action-packed film is sure to pack more than a punch.

Lee Jung-jae re-edited the film for a younger and overseas audience. It would give them a better understanding of the turbulent and volatile political era of Korea during the 80s. Much of the dialogue was changed to complement this.

Jack of All Trades

“When writing the script of ‘Hunt,’ I set younger generations in South Korea who learn about the era from history textbooks as the target audience. I thought foreign viewers would be the same,” Lee said, according to the Yonhap news agency. “But at Cannes, about 30% of foreign media reviews complained that it was hard for them to keep up with the story, as they didn’t know about Korean politics in the 1980s.”

Lee Jung-jae also served as a producer of the film Hunt because he never received a screenplay to his satisfaction after becoming a co-screenwriter.

“When I was younger, I was curious about other trades, I wanted to see other parts of the world, try things out,” Lee told Variety back in September. “Just because I’m doing the director’s job on this film doesn’t mean I’m going to be giving up acting. I still like acting the best and intend to focus on that.”

Hunt will premiere at TIFF 2022 as a Gala Presentation on September 15th.