The movie ‘12.12: The Day’ is taking a step toward the Oscars through a campaign in the U.S.
The Korean Film Biz Zone (KoBiz) selected ‘12.12: The Day‘ by director Sung Su Kim as South Korea’s entry for the International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards by unanimous decision of the judges. ‘12.12: The Day‘ is a film that surpassed 10 million viewers in South Korea last year. It depicts the nine hours of tense moments on December 12, 1979, in Seoul, as efforts were made to prevent a military rebellion initiated by a group of military leaders.
The Oscar campaign for the movie, hosted by distributor Plus M Entertainment, was held from November 19 to November 23 at the Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) with the participation of the movie’s director Kim, Plus M Entertainment, and production company Hive Media Corp.
Members of about 10 organizations, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the Critics’ Choice Association (CCA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), were invited to the Campaign.
At the general audience premiere of the movie held on November 19, director Kim had a Q&A session with the audience after the screening. Kim said, “I heard the gunshots myself when the Chief of Staff of the Army was kidnapped, just like in the movie.”
“I didn’t want to make it like a normal action movie. I directed the historical situation of the time as if a reporter were filming with a camera.”
From November 20 to November 23, private screenings of ‘12.12: The Day’ were held at Soho House, NeueHouse, Rodeo Screening Room, and the Malibu Film Society (MFS). On November 23, Plus M Entertainment held a luncheon event at Cecconi’s in West Hollywood for members of the CCA and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the largest film critic organization in North America.
At the event, members of the associations showed a keen interest in the conversation between Plus M Entertainment CEO Jung In Hong and Director Kim, ranging from the December 12 military coup to the history of democracy in South Korea to the environment for Korean film production.
“We all know that it is a dark and tragic history that we want to hide, but I believed that Director Kim was the only person who could explain it,” said Hong. ”What I thought about deeply before production was to find a balance and show the audience the right perspective.”
The 97th Academy Awards will hold a shortlist vote from December 9 to 13 and announce the results on December 17. The shortlist is a preliminary list of nominated films that are released before the official list of nominees is announced, and the list is released at approximately twice the size of the official list of nominees. The final nominees will be announced on January 17 next year after voting from January 8 to 12.
The 97th Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 2, 2025.
BY EUNYOUNG LEE, HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
