Submissions to the Foreign Language Film Oscar are limited to one film per country, which means South Korea’s ‘A Taxi Driver’ will compete with the likes of Finnish movie ‘Tom of Finland’ by Dome Karukoski and ‘Ayla: The Daughter of War’ by Ca Ulkay from Turkey. (Image: ShowBox)
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean box office hit ‘A Taxi Driver’ has been selected by the Korean Film Council as a Best Foreign-Language Film entry for the 90th Academy Awards, the film’s distributor ShowBox announced on Monday.
Submissions to the Foreign Language Film Oscar are limited to one film per country, which means South Korea’s ‘A Taxi Driver’ will compete with the likes of Finnish movie ‘Tom of Finland’ by Dome Karukoski and ‘Ayla: The Daughter of War’ by Ca Ulkay from Turkey.
“’Taxi Driver’ articulately illustrates the distinct characteristics of South Korea as well as how human rights and democratization in Asia have made progress,” a special committee of the Korean Film Council, which selected the film, said in a statement.
“As the film encapsulates general ‘humanism’, we believe the meaning and topics of the film will be well-received by international audiences.”
Song Gang-ho, who plays a leading role in the film, has starred in an Academy Awards-considered movie for the third consecutive year, following ‘The Throne’ and ‘The Age of Shadows’.
‘A Taxi Driver’ is one of the major summer box office hits this year, and is based on the true story of German journalist Jürgen Hinzpeter, whose reporting on the Gwangju Uprising contributed to making one of the great moments in South Korean politics known to the world.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
