South Korean director Bong Joon-ho will present his new film Mickey 17 out of competition in Berlin next month, the city’s film festival announced on Thursday.
Six years ago, Bong won the Palme d’Or at Cannes then an Oscar for best picture for Parasite – the first not in English to do so at the Academy Awards.
Science fiction black comedy Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey, who has volunteered in a program in which cloning allows him to have multiple successive lives to the point where “dying is a habit”.
The Berlinale is the first major European film event of the year. The festival has also announced that it will give a lifetime achievement award to British actor Tilda Swinton, who has also collaborated with Bong in the past.
The festival opens with the latest offering from German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, who made his name with Run, Lola, Run in 1998.
The 75th edition of the Berlinale runs from Feb. 13 to 23. The full program and films in the running for the Golden Bear is due to be announced on Jan. 21.
Last year, French-Senegalese director Mati Diop’s Dahomey, a documentary examining Europe’s return of looted antiquities to Africa, took the prestigious prize. AFP
