New episodes premiere on January 24, 25 and 26, also at 8am, with the final two episodes airing back-to-back on Saturday, January 27 at 8am.

The show will also stream on HBO and HBO GO On AIS PLAY And AIS PLAYBOX.

“Mosaic” stars Sharon Stone along with an ensemble cast that includes Garrett Hedlund, Frederick Weller and Beau Bridges.

Directed by Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon (“Men in Black,” “Charlie’s Angels), the story is set against the backdrop of a mountain resort town. “Mosaic” follows popular children’s book author and illustrator Olivia Lake (Stone), whose literary success makes her a local celebrity in the tight-knit community. At the annual fundraiser, where she is accompanied by trusted friend and confidante JC (Paul Reubens), she sets her sights on a handsome, young newcomer in town, aspiring graphic artist Joel Hurley (Hedlund). Encouraged by the doting and flirtatious Olivia, he accepts her offer for a place to stay and work, but the unexpected arrival of Joel’s girlfriend, Laura (Maya Kazan), sends Olivia into a jealous tailspin.

Olivia subsequently has a chance meeting with charming stranger Eric Neill (Frederick Weller), another new arrival in town, whose duplicitous intentions to sweep her off her feet for financial gain have an unexpected outcome.

When Olivia disappears on New Year’s Day, leaving behind a blood-soaked studio, “Mosaic” becomes an intricate whodunit, and it is up to detective Nate Henry (Devin Ratray) and Eric’s sister, Petra (Jennifer Ferrin), to unravel the mystery.

“Mosaic” was filmed in Park City, Utah in the winter of 2015 and 2016.

“From my standpoint, change is inevitable and change is going to come… I’m pretty encouraged right now,” the 81-year-old double Oscar-winner told a news conference launching his annual Sundance Film Festival.

“What it’s doing is bringing forth more opportunities for women and more opportunities for women in film to have their own voices heard and do their own projects. I’m pretty excited by that,” he said.

Redford said that as women were pushing back against harassment and demanding equal pay they were forcing the traditional male powerbrokers in the film industry to make changes.

“It’s kind of a tipping point because it’s changing the order of things, so women are going to have a stronger voice,” he told reporters as he kicked off the annual showcase for independent films at the ski resort of Park City, Utah.

Sundance is the first major film festival since scores of women came forward in October to accuse movie mogul Harvey Weinstein — an independent film specialist and a supporter of the 10-day event — of harassment and abuse.

In the following weeks numerous high-profile figures including Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Dustin Hoffman and Louis C.K. have faced a flood of allegations of sexual misconduct.

‘Sickened’

The festival, which runs through January 28, will shine the spotlight on more than 100 independent features, most of them world premieres including many from newcomers trying to make their mark.

The #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct has particular resonance at Sundance as it has been spearheaded by actress Rose McGowan, who accused Weinstein of attacking her at the 1997 edition of the festival.

Weinstein was considered a titan of independent film and greatly influential in getting smaller features funding and distribution — not to mention a front row seat in the Oscars conversation.

But Redford described the veteran producer as “a moment in time” that the indie sector would move past, adding that his backing of Sundance was motivated by financial self-interest.

Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam said she was “sickened” to learn that at least two of the allegations against Weinstein related to his behavior at Sundance.

Although Redford has always insisted that Sundance organizers are above politics, this year’s festival continues the tradition of filmmakers using their platform in Park City to highlight the issues of the day.

Among the most hotly anticipated entries, Jennifer Fox’s “The Tale” stars Laura Dern as a woman forced to confront a sexual relationship she had at age 13 with two adults coaches.

‘Fake news’

“Seeing Allred” profiles Gloria Allred, the New York lawyer who has made her name representing women in sexual abuse cases, while “RBG” focuses on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of three female justices on the US Supreme Court.

Offscreen, organizers of last year’s Women’s March are staging a Respect Rally on Saturday, with speakers set to include Allred and Jane Fonda, whose documentary “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” gets its world premiere at Sundance.

Meanwhile, Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me 2” was dropped from the schedule after he admitted sexual misconduct on Twitter.

The panelists were pressed during the hour-long discussion for their views on President Donald Trump’s controversial labelling of media coverage he doesn’t like as “fake news.”

“Journalism is a big deal for me and it always seems to be under threat periodically” said Redford, who famously played investigative reporter Bob Woodward in Watergate thriller “All the President’s Men” (1976).

“Something comes up and then dies down, comes up and dies down. Journalism is our means of getting to the truth, and I think getting to the truth is getting harder and harder in this climate.”

A festival that’s billed as accessible to everyone, in all places, everywhere in the world, MyFrenchFilmFestival gets underway today on a device near you.

After a record turnout for the Uni-France online festival in 2017, the best of new-generation French and Francophone cinema is being showcased worldwide for the next month and has a jury of filmmakers on tap to select the winners of the competition. The judges includes such big names as Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, French directors Julia Ducournau and Kim Chapiron, French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch and Filipino director Brillante Mendoza.

Organised in six thematic sections, mixing short films and feature films, MyFrenchFilmFestival offers “Internet festival-goers” the chance to discover the many aspects and talents of French and Francophone cinema.

“What the F…rench” offers absurd and at times crazy situations featuring endearing heroes. It includes “Struggle for Life” by Antonin Peretjatko, “Rock’n Roll” by Guillaume Canet, and “Willy The 1st” by Ludovic Boukherma, Zoran Boukherma, Marielle Gautier & Hugo P Thomas. There are also three short films in this section:  “Delectable You” (Axel Courtiere), “Lazare”, (Tristan Lhomme) and “The Screen-Writer”  (Francois Paquay).

The “Hit the Road” section focuses on motorways, filling stations and holiday clubs and includes “Ava” (Lea Mysius), “Before Summer Ends”, (Maryam Goormaghtigh), “Crash Test Aglae”, (Eric Gravel) and “The Summer Movie” (Emmanuel Marre).

There plenty of viewing for the younger set in the “Teen Stories” category, with “1:54” by Yan England presented in partnership with Telefilm Canada and “Swagger” by Olivier Babinet among the highlights.

The “French and Furious” section has “Man Bites Dog” by Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel and Benoit Poelvoorde, “Into the Forest (Gilles Marchand), “Paris Prestige”, (Hame and Ekoue), “The Stroke”, (Morgane Polanski), “Death, Dad & Son” (Winshluss & Denis Walgenwitz), and “Please Love Me Forever” by Holy Fatma.

Very French love stories live up to their name in the “Love a la Francaise” category, which features the classic Francois Truffaut film “The Last Metro”, along with “In Bed with Victoria” by Justine Triet, “A Taste of Vietnam” (Pier-Luc Latulippe). “No Drowning” (Melanie Laleu), “Long Live the Emperor”, (Aude Lea Rapin) and Francois Ozon’s “A Summer Dress”.

Introduced for the first time this year, the “New Horizons” section spotlighting new screenwriting talents and amplified film experiences. It includes “Phallaina” (Marietta Ren, Fresque), the virtual; reality outing “Planet 8” (Momoko Seto), and an interactive film “Wei or Die” by  Simon Bouisson.

Three awards will be granted at the conclusion of the festival:

The Filmmakers’ Jury Award by a jury of international filmmakers.

The Lacoste Audience Awards (feature film and short film): Internet users all over the world are invited to vote on the festival platform for their favourite short film and feature film, which will receive the Lacoste Audience Award and be shown for six months on board Air France flights. One of the voting viewers can also win a trip for 2 to Paris on the event’s Facebook page.

The International Press Award (feature film and short film) by a jury of foreign journalists.

The Filmmakers’ Jury and the International Press Jury will meet in Paris during the festival to vote for the winning films.

MyFrenchFilmFestival, which continues though February 19, can be accessed on 50 partner VoD platforms all over the world, including worldwide platforms such as iTunes (in more than 90 territories), but also Google Play, MUBI, Dailymotion, YouTube, Facebook and more.

The short films are free of charge all over the world, while there is a viewing fee for the features of 1.99 euros (Bt75) per film.

For more information, visit http://www.MyFrenchFilmFestival.com/en/

“The vast majority are being hypocritical and ridiculous,” she told the French magazine Paris Match.

“Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role. And then, so we will talk about them, they say they were harassed,” declared the 83-year-old Bardot.

“I was never the victim of sexual harassment. And I found it charming when men told me that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside,” said the actress, who became a sex symbol overnight for “And God Created Woman” in 1956.

Her comments come a week after fellow French star Catherine Deneuve sparked a worldwide feminist backlash by defending men’s right to “hit on” women.

She signed an open letter by 100 prominent women that claimed that #MeToo had become a puritanical “witch-hunt” which threatened sexual freedom.

It also implied that women fondled on public transport should just get over it.

But Deneuve later distanced herself from some of the other signatories after one claimed that women can orgasm during rape.

– ‘Distrustful of the human race’ –

The 74-year-old went on to apologise to victims of sexual assault, saying there was “nothing good” about harassment.

Bardot, who ended her film career in 1973 so she could dedicate herself to her animal rights charity, has a long history of provoking feminists.

Yet she admitted to the magazine that she has not digested what happened to her when she was at the height of her fame in the 1960s, and her love life made international headlines.

“I still find it difficult to understand what happened to me,” she said. “That uncontrollable time made me very distrustful of the human race.”

Bardot said she “has almost no contact these days with the entertainment industry” other than phone calls from her old friends like veteran actor Alain Delon.

Instead she looks after her six cats, nine dogs and some 50 other animals at her farm and animal sanctuary near the French Riviera resort of Saint Tropez.

She said that when she is gone she wants to be known as the “animals’ fairy godmother”.

A supporter of the far-right National Front, Bardot said she prefers the late pope John Paul II to Pope Francis and prays to the Virgin Mary, which she calls “my little Virgin”.

But she said that if she was reincarnated she would be like to be a “mustang, that wild and free horse of the American West”.

“All through history, moments of succession are points of conflict,” notes creator Jesse Armstrong. “Whether it’s the Roman Empire, Babylonian Empire, succession is tough, and often in political and national history, when a king, queen or leader has to leave the stage, they can find they want to linger in the limelight longer than anyone thought.”

Set in New York, “Succession” explores themes of power, politics, money, and family. Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the tough, powerful, ageing patriarch, is head of Waystar Royco, a family-controlled international media conglomerate. He is married to his third wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass”), a loving but formidable partner.

Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong), Logan’s eldest son from his second marriage, is currently a division president at the firm and the heir apparent. Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), Kendall’s younger brother, is an outspoken, fun-loving son but no longer works at Waystar. Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook), Logan’s only daughter and youngest child, has been pursuing a career in politics. Connor Roy (Alan Ruck), Logan’s eldest son, and only child from his first marriage, has pursued an independent life in New Mexico. In the season premiere, the Roy siblings are reunited with their younger cousin, Greg (Nicholas Braun), who has moved from Canada to New York seeking a foothold in the management of the firm’s theme parks.

On the periphery of the Roy family are Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), Shiv’s ambitious boyfriend and a senior executive at the firm, and Rava Roy (Natalie Gold), Kendall’s wife, with whom he shares two children and an emotional bond, despite their marital separation. Frank (Peter Friedman) is the firm’s COO, an old family friend, and a mentor to Kendall. In an effort to solidify his takeover of Waystar, Kendall is on the brink of buying out a digital media outfit from Lawrence (Rob Yang), its CEO and founder.

“There’s no question that “Succession, at its root, is a family story,” notes director and executive producer Adam McKay. “There’s also a tragic side to it, where you see how massive wealth and power distorts and twists and wounds this family.”

Executive producer Frank Rich adds, “I think it is the specificity of the way the “Succession characters are drawn, with wry humour and heart, and the calibre of this ensemble cast, that make the Roys stand out in the crowded field of family drama.”

Succession is executive produced by Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin Messick, Will Ferrell, Jane Tranter and Mark Mylod.

It’s been a busy few years for Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. First there were the two years he spent making his latest film “Mai Me Samui Samrab Ther” (“Samui Song”). Then he set off on a tour of the world’s film festivals, introducing his new baby first in Venice then taking it to several other destinations before bringing it back home to show to local audiences on February 1 under a first-time distribution deal with Sahamongkolfilm Company.

The acclaimed director is also celebrating two decades in the film industry and has chosen to mark the occasion with the special event “Cinema Journey: 20 Years of Penek Films” that will see almost all his films screened in chronological order prior to “Samui Song” arriving in cinemas.

“I wanted to make an entertaining film after all these years because the Thai audience has stereotyped me as a director who makes movies that are difficult to understand,” the director said during the press conference with his leading cast members last week, adding that this film is also the least personal.

The entertainment message comes through loud and clear in the Thai trailer for the film. In the international trailer “Samui Song” is portrayed as an allusive suspense thriller while the Thai version is more black comedy and brings to mind his second film “Ruang Talok 69” (“6ixtynin9”).

Producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, the man behind both trailers, says he originally sent the Thai version of the trailer to promote the film overseas only to have it rejected by the distributor for being a comedy. He went back to the drawing board and came up with the international version that gives it an intense “Psycho”like thriller feel.

“Samui Song” is about TV soap star Viyada (Chermarn Bunyasak) who is married to Jerome (played by French photographer and visual artist Stephane Sednaoui). Jerome, though, has a personal problem and that attracts him to the strange cult led by The Holy One (Vithaya “Pu” Pansrigarm). His fascination with the cult leader results in Jerome bringing him to their home, Viyada is less than pleased and in desperation hires Guy Spencer (David Asavanond) to kill her husband, which is when everything spins out of control.

The Thai title, which translates in English as “there is no Samui for you” was inspired by the popular drama film and TV drama title “Mai Me Sawan Samrab Khun” (“there is no heaven for you”), which has been remade several times. Samui is relevant to the plot, he explains, because Viyada has happy memories of staying there – “it is her heaven,” he days.

Penek’s approach to his films has constantly changed since he made his directorial debut “Fun Bar Karaoke” in 1997.

“For about 10 years, my films were very personal. All the questions I had in my life became a story. So making a film at that time was like therapy. For example, when I was questioning death, I made “Last life in The Universe”. I wondered why we always wasted time arguing as a couple and that became “Ploy”. It was very stressful making films that were so personal,” he says.

“Samui Song” started, he explains, when he spotted a well-known Thai actress and her foreign husband or boyfriend in a supermarket and was curious to note that she spoke to him in Thai and he spoke to her in English but they could understand each other.

“It’s about a couple’s relationship and woman’s position in Thai society. Although there is a cult and a religious element to the story, this is to set the scene for the murder’s motive,” “he says. “Using an affair is too much of a clich?.”

The cult idea came about after he heard about a monk forced to leave monkhood following a scandal yet still retaining hundreds of disciples.

He picked Chermarn to play Viyada Beaufoy because no one else was suited to the role.

“She entered the entertainment business as a youngster and while she has reaped the benefits, she’s also suffered some cruel blows. With her background, I thought that she would probably understand that suffering and transform herself effortlessly into Viyada ,” explains Penek.

And indeed the popular TV drama actress has run into quite a few fights with the entertainment media because of her aggressive and uncompromising stance. That led the media to boycott her, not interviewing her when she attended events and that, of course, affected both her reputation and her event work.

Chermarn had a cameo role in Penek’s 2003 film “Last Life in the Universe” in 2003, which starred her older sister Sinithra and Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano. She was 17 at the time.

As for “Samui Song”, she says she accepted the role without even seeing the script.

“And then I had to do 13 takes for drama scenes and 35 takes biting into a tomato. Unfortunately both parts were deleted from the movie. That fact that it took so many takes made me shudder, as I regularly manage to get it right in just five takes,” she says.

“That was especially true of the crying scene, which was cut too, but I finally understood what Penek wanted after watching the film at the Macau International Film Festival,

“I realised that he was looking for the magic moment. In fact that came in the early takes not the last one. Working with Penek has given me new energy. After 24 years in this career, I was burned out. But Penek has helped to reignite the flame of excitement in my acting again,” she says.

Vithaya was the first to be cast in the film and cheerfully admits that he’s been wanting to work with Penek for years, even more so since he started gaining fame from international productions like “Only God Forgives”.

“It is a great experience for me as Penek helps actors to create the character while in the past I had to do it alone then present it to the director,” he says. He first interpreted The Holy One as a serious though much-admired man before Penek suggested that he would be better played as a cunning if animated individual.

“He had to be someone that those who don’t believe would be sceptical about but have a character that can make the followers believe in him too,” he says.

Prior to the release of “Samui Song” – Penek’s tenth film – there will be a screening of most of his movies, both features and documentaries. The idea for the event came from discussions with concert and event producer Yuthana Boonorm and will help the director, who isn’t on the social networks, to meet the public and share his experiences.

Two documentaries were screened last weekend at Warehouse 30 and this weekend, “6ixtynin9”, “Ploy” and “Monrak Transistor” are being shown outdoors at The Jam Factory at Klong San pier. The event will also feature an exhibition by Santi Taepanich, who has worked on many of the director’s sets and will be sharing his experiences.

Saturday’s event starts with a talk with director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit about Penek’s films followed by “6ixtynin9” and “Ploy” while on Sunday, Santi will talk about Penek’s movies prior to the screening of “Monrak Transistor”. Admission is free.

On January 2728, his eight feature films will be shown at House RCA in 35mmfilm format.

Close up with Pen-ek

•  For more about “Samui Song”, join the conversation at Facebook.com/samuisongfilm/
•  For details of the Cinema Journey, go to Facebook.com/events/1934161300177587 and Facebook.com/houseRCA. 

“I warmly greet all the victims of these hideous acts who might have felt offended by that letter which appeared in Le Monde (Tuesday). It is to them and them alone that I offer my apologies,” the actress said in a letter published Sunday on the website of French daily Liberation.

Deneuve also said that there was “nothing in the letter” to Le Monde that said “anything good about harassment, otherwise I wouldn’t have signed it.”

France’s most revered actress was among 100 prominent women to sign the open letter defending a man’s right to “bother” women, complaining that the campaign against harassment had become “puritanical”.

They deplored the wave of “denunciations” which has followed claims that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted and harassed women over decades..

They branded it a “witch-hunt” that they claim threatens sexual freedom.

“I love freedom,” Deneuve wrote in the letter to Liberation. “I don’t like this characteristic of our era where everyone feels they have the right… to condemn. An era where simple denunciations on social networks cause punishment, resignation, and… often media lynching,” she wrote.

She also protested not being considered a feminist. She recalled that she had been among the women who had signed a manifesto “I had an abortion” in defence of abortion rights written by French feminist icon Simone de Beauvoir.

As an actress since she was 17, Deneuve admitted that during her career she had been “a witness to indelicate situations” between men and women.

– ‘A free woman’ –

But that Le Monde letter triggered a wave of protest from feminists and victims of harassment and assault worldwide, including one of the women who has accused Weinstein of rape.

Italian actress Asia Argento, who was among the first to denounce Weinstein, said in a tweet: “Deneuve and other French women tell the world how their interiorised misogyny has lobotomised them to the point of no return.”

A group of leading French feminists also excoriated Deneuve in a counterblast letter to French radio, branding her and the other signatories as “apologists for rape”.

“Their letter is like a tired old uncle who doesn’t understand what is happening,” the feminists said.

The letter’s assertions that being “fondled on a metro… was a non-event” to some women, and a man’s right to hit on a woman was fundamental to sexual freedom, sparked particular fury.

“Catherine Deneuve might have very different opinions about harassment if she weren’t an extraordinarily beautiful, very rich white woman living in a bubble of heightened privilege. And had some empathy,” tweeted New York Times cartoonist Colleen Doran.

Against this chorus of opposition, Deneuve wrote the letter to the leftist newspaper Liberation which had invited her to write to clarify her position.

“I am a free woman and I will remain so,” she wrote.

The solution to sexual harassment “will come with the upbringing of our boys and girls,” she said, adding that businesses must also set guidelines so that “if there is harassment, legal action will be immediately taken.”

“I believe in justice,” she said.

The schedule is as follows.

>> January 23 “The Post” (in cinemas on January 25)

>> January 24 “Downsizing” (in cinemas on February 1)

>> January 25 “Phantom Thread” (in cinemas on February 22)

>> January 26 “Lady Bird” (in cinemas on February 15)

Screening time is 8pm.

Steven Spielberg’s film “The Post” is based on true events. “The Post” documents a time when The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) and her driven editor, Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) worked to expose the government’s true reason for involving itself in the Vietnam War, which was explained via the controversial Pentagon Papers.

Their work highlights that journalists are often at odds with some of the highest officials in government, especially when it’s learned that four US presidential administrations (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson) misled the American public over why the US was really in Vietnam.

Starring Matt Demon and directed by Alexander Payne, the film “Downsizing” is centred on Paul (Matt Damon) and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig), who decide to abandon their old lives and shrink themselves to five inches by using a technology created by Norwegian scientists in an effort to combat global over-population. The permanent procedure also provides the bonus of a more economical lifestyle, since smaller things cost less.  Unfortunately for Paul, downsizing comes with a new list of complications, including Audrey backing out at the last minute.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film “Phantom Thread” depicts Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a famous dressmaker living in 1950s London. He has his life nailed down to a science and is very meticulous with his day-to-day routine, but all this is thrown into the air when he encounters a fiery young woman named Alma (Vicky Krieps). Alma is stubborn, headstrong and very different from anything Reynolds is used to. She manages to throw his life into interesting disarray when she becomes his muse and eventually his lover.

“Lady Bird”, which just won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical, tells the story of high-school senior Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) – also known by the nickname she chose for herself, Lady Bird. Desperate to get out of California, she can’t wait to move to the East Coast, where she dreams of big city life and Ivy League universities.

However, because her grades are nothing spectacular and she has no connections, Lady Bird decides she needs to add extracurricular activities to make her college applications stand out. Meanwhile, her mother struggles to understand her self-centred daughter’s aspirations and desire to move far away, and already has her hands full supporting the family by working double shifts as a nurse.

Only 500 seats are available for each show and tickets can now be purchased from the cinema’s ticket box office at Bt140 and Bt160.

For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/UIPThailand/.

The swards were organised by the China Documentary Research Centre (CDRC) and hosted by the Communication University of China (CUC).

According to the CDRC, the cinematic and narrative style of the documentary, along with numerous quality interviews and detailed supporting materials, made “The Talwars: Behind Closed Doors” a documentary that has both artistic quality and social value.

The CAADF was first initiated in 2010 and is a major event within China’s documentary scene.

Featuring never-before-seen exclusive interviews, “Talwars” is a gripping documentary that examines the double murder of a teenage girl and her family’s household servant in Noida, India, that quickly became one of India’s biggest murder mysteries, capturing worldwide attention.

With his breakout film “Oldboy” in 2003, director Park Chan-wook has led the surge of Korean directors spotlighted in the international cinemascape in the past two decades.

For his next work, Park will be helming a BBC television drama series revolving around an international intrigue that involves multiple countries. The series will also air on US channel AMC.

The six-episode drama is an adaptation of John Le Carre’s “Little Drummer Girl”, a 1983 novel about an actress who, seeking to escape the dullness of the English bourgeoisie, is lured by an Israeli intelligence agent into a mission to eliminate a Palestinian terror group.

Florence Pugh will star as the protagonist Charlie, and Alexander Skarsgard has also joined the cast. The producer is Laura Hastings-Smith, who produced the film “Macbeth” in 2015. Among the international crew are production designer Maria Djurkovic (“The Imitation Game”, “The Hours”), director of photography Kim Woohyung (“The Taste of Money”) and costume designer Steven Noble (“The Theory of Everything”).

“Of Le Carre’s many masterpieces, the one I loved ahead of any other is ‘The Little Drummer Girl’. At the core of this story is an extremely painful, but thrilling, romance. This is what makes the story universal, reaching beyond borders and languages and remaining incredibly current,” Park told the BBC last month. The series is Park’s second international undertaking following the 2013 Hollywood film “Stoker”, a psychological thriller produced by Tony and Ridley Scott, penned by Wentworth Miller and starring Nicole Kidman. The film, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, garnered favourable reviews.

“To adapt such a great work without losing its integrity, it needs the time and depth of a television series, and I am excited at the prospect of seeing how the drumbeats of Florence Pugh, the most energetic young female actor I have seen recently, will resonate with the audience,” says Park, who is making his television debut with the series.

The last two films by Park, including the erotic thriller “The Handmaiden” (2016), also featured women as their central characters. India Stoker, a girl with acutely strong senses, and her unstable mother Evelyn took the main roles in “Stoker,” while “The Handmaid en” centres on Lady Hideko, a seemingly docile heiress living under her authoritarian uncle, and her new handmaiden Sookhee.

“The Handmaiden”, which on Tuesday was nominated for Best non-English film for the British Academy of Film and Television (Bafta) awards, was lauded as both a tale of feminine partnership that tears down a control system established by men, and South Korea’s metaphorical tearing away from the reins of Japanese colonial rule. Some, meanwhile, criticised its explicit sex scenes as exploiting the female form.

Park has been vocal about his support for women in film.

“Regarding the recent gender discrimination and hate against women in the film industry, I apologise, as a man, as a director, as a relatively veteran director and as a producer,” Park said in an interview with film magazine Cine 21. “I express true respect to my female colleagues who are speaking up on this situation.”  When he received the Baeksang Arts award in May for “The Handmaiden”, Park said he hoped for a “world where people would not be discriminated against due to race, sexual identity or sexual orientation”.

Film director, screenwriter, amateur photographer, former film critic and former student of philosophy at Sogang University, Park is a self-taught auteur.

He didn’t initially set out to be a director but a critic, even interviewing Quentin Tarantino as a film journalist when the American filmmaker came to Korea to promote “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. The two later met again at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, when Park was invited for “Oldboy”, which eventually won the jury’s grand prize.

Park only seriously resolved to become a filmmaker upon watching Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, and that he was reluctant to watch it twice for fear of shattering those initial, overwhelming feelings the movie had evoked in him.

Park’s debut feature “The Moon is … the Sun’s Dream”, released in 1992, is about a man who discovers his wife’s infidelity. Commercial success and recognition came later, in 2000, when “Joint Security Area”, about an investigation into a shooting that takes place at the Demilitarised Zone in between the Koreas, became a box office hit.

In 2002, Park went on to begin his “Vengeance Trilogy” – “Sympathy for Mr Vengeance” (2002), “Oldboy” (2003) and “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” (2005). Through these films, he rose to prominence in international cinema for his meticulous framing, black humour and brutal, yet stirring, shots.

Park turned to a quirky romantic comedy inside a mental institution in 2006 through “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK”, and went on to film “Thirst” in 2009, about a Catholic priest who turns into a vampire after a medical experiment goes awry.