The landmark 1996 film, which marked the screen debut of then-15-year-old Lee Jung-hyun, will be rereleased on May 14 to mark its 30th anniversary
"A Petal," the first South Korean studio film to depict the deadly 1980 military crackdown in Gwangju, will return to theaters on May 14 in a 4K restoration, the film's distributor said Thursday.
Directed by Jang Sun-woo and starring Lee Jung-hyun, "A Petal" follows a 15-year-old girl whose mother was killed during the incident and traces the trauma that unspools through her life in the years that follow. The rerelease marks 30 years since the film's original opening.
The Gwangju Democratic Uprising, a student-led pro-democracy revolt in the southwestern city of Gwangju in May 1980, was violently suppressed by paratroopers under the orders of military strongman Chun Doo-hwan. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the crackdown, though estimates of the death toll range into the thousands.
"A Petal" was the first commercial feature to take the incident as its subject matter, arriving after South Korea's democratic transition in the late 1980s and early '90s, which gradually eased restrictions on free speech.
Adapted from Choe Yun's 1988 short story "There a Petal Silently Falls," the film drew attention at the time for its bold handling of the subject, combining archival footage of the crackdown with flashbacks, animation and dream sequences.
The film also stirred controversy at the time of its release for the graphic depiction of violence against the teenage protagonist performed by Lee, who was a minor. It remains a touchstone among Korean films based on the event, which has since grown to include works such as "Peppermint Candy" (1999), "May 18" (2007) and "A Taxi Driver" (2017).
Jang, 74, was a leading figure in the Korean New Wave of the 1980s and '90s, which helped raise the country's profile on the international festival circuit.
His 1993 film "Hwa-Om-Kyung" won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. He has not directed a feature since the commercial failure of the big-budget sci-fi "Resurrection of the Little Match Girl" in 2002.
For actor-pop star Lee Jung-hyun, "A Petal" marked her screen debut at age 15.
Her performance as the traumatized girl earned her best new actress honors that year at both the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Grand Bell Awards. She pivoted to pop music in the late 1990s and has continued to work across both fields ever since.
The remastered version features upgraded picture and sound, the distributor said. A spokesperson described the rerelease as an opportunity to revisit the film's themes of memory and grief for a new generation of viewers.
"A Petal" opens May 14.
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
