International Film Discovery

South Korean indie filmmaker Syeyoung Park returns to the Swiss festival with a haunting and artistically fertile dystopian tale set in eco-devastated, reunified Korea. The Fin, written, directed, and shot by Syeyoung Park. Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente sidebar is dedicated to first or second features by directors that are radical, uncompromising, adventurous, and infused with genuine curiosity about the full spectrum of cinematic possibility. Korean filmmaker Syeyoung Park hits the mark perfectly with his new film, The Fin, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his reputation as a daring new voice in Korean underground cinema. Returning to the festival one year after receiving a special mention for The Masked Monster (which competed in the Short Film Auteur Competition)—now a strong contender for the Green Leopard—Park transports audiences to a post-war Korea where the South and the North have reunified. However, this reunification has not brought peace to its people, instead, the cou...