Woo Min-ho's New Film 'Haerbin' Advances to Toronto International Film Festival

First Debut in Gala Presentation Section
"Filming, Acting, and Narrative All Harmoniously Combined"

Director Woo Min-ho's new film "Harbin" will be unveiled at the Toronto International Film Festival, which opens on September 5. Distributor CJ ENM announced on the 19th that the film has been invited to the Gala Presentations section.

The espionage film deals with the incident in 1909 when independence activist Ahn Jung-geun organized a small assassination squad and assassinated Ito Hirobumi at Harbin Station. It was produced by Hive Media Corp, moving between South Korea, Latvia, Mongolia, and other locations. The cast includes Hyun Bin, Park Jung-min, Jo Woo-jin, Jeon Yeo-been, Park Hoon, Yoo Jae-myung, and Lee Dong-wook.

Cameron Bailey, the executive director of the Toronto Film Festival, said, "It is a film that astonishingly portrays a historical story," and added, "I am very excited to invite it as a world premiere." Anita Lee, the senior programmer, praised the film, saying, "It is remarkable how a historical event has been depicted as a comprehensive cinematic art," and "The cinematography, acting, and narrative all blend beautifully into a stunning film."

The Toronto International Film Festival is considered one of the world's four major international film festivals alongside Cannes, Berlin, and Venice. Many North American film industry professionals attend, and numerous Hollywood commercial films are showcased. "Harbin" is a rare film based on Korean history to receive such an invitation. It will be released domestically in the second half of the year.

The Gala Presentations section, where the film will be introduced, is a screening event attended by general audiences and special guests. Previous Korean films featured in this section include director Kim Jee-woon’s "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" (2008), director Im Sang-soo’s "The Housemaid" (2010), director Cho Ui-seok’s "Cold Eyes" (2013), director Lee Jung-jae’s "Hunt" (2022), director Um Tae-hwa’s "Concrete Utopia" (2023), and director Ryu Seung-wan’s "Smugglers" (2023).