Director Ryoo Seung-wan's upcoming film "Smugglers" has been invited to a non-competitive section of the Locarno Film Festival, distributors NEW said Thursday.

Written and directed by Ryoo, "Smuggles" is an action-crime film that revolves around people picking up litter on the ocean to sustain their lives, getting pulled into offers of illegal smuggling.

Actors Kim Hye-soo, Yum Jung-ah, Zo In-sung, Park Jeong-min and others will feature in the upcoming film. Kim plays the "adventurer" Cho Choon-ja, who lures Um Jin-sook, played by Yum, the leader of a haenyeo group, into smuggling products by snatching up contrabands that were dropped in the ocean. Zo plays Kwon Pil-sam, the "king of smugglers," who dominated the contraband market in Busan.

Hanyeo refers to Korean female sea divers.

The 76th Locarno Film Festival will be held in Locarno, Switzerland, from Aug. 2 to 12. "Smugglers" has been invited to the Piazza Grande, a non-competitive section of the festival. Actor Song Kang-ho won the Excellence Award at the festival, and two of Song's most popular films, "Parasite" (2019) and "Memories of Murder" (2003), were played at the festival in 2019.

"Smugglers" will open in cinemas on July 26.


To find out more about "Smugglers," visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]