Gentle on the outside, strong on the inside (外柔內剛). While this is a four-character idiom that even middle school graduates memorize, in the Korean film industry, 외유내강 is synonymous with the collaboration between director Ryoo Seung-wan and producer Kang Hye-jung.

Over the past 20 years, film production company Film R&K has consistently made new and profound marks on Korean theaters. From ‘The Berlin File’ and ‘Escape from Mogadishu,’ which broadly expanded the pathways for location collaboration between Korean films and overseas productions, to ‘Veteran’ and ‘I, The Executioner,’ which explored numerous agendas that urgent social discourse can create when combined with the action genre, and ‘The Unjust’ and ‘Smugglers,’ which cut through cross-sections of the times with sharp touches. The various symptoms of Korean society and hard-boiled action that Director Ryoo Seung-wan carved onto the screen were able to meet audiences based on the support of Film R&K.  

Film R&K also deserves great credit for bestowing not only audience attention but also the crown of a box office director upon rookie filmmakers. Director Lee Sang-geun emerged as a blue-chip stock receiving praise from both critics and audiences by achieving 9.42 million cumulative viewers with ‘EXIT,’ while Director Choi Jeong-yeol of ‘Start-Up’ and Director Pil Gam-seong of ‘Hostage: Missing Celebrity’ each exceeded their break-even points despite limitations of simultaneous releases with blockbusters and the COVID-19 pandemic, raising expectations for their next works.  

To commemorate its 20th anniversary, Film R&K will screen 18 representative works at 30 CGV theaters nationwide from June 11th to 24th.

… (Content continues)