By Park Jin-hai
The low-budget film “Han Gong-ju” exceeded 200,000 viewers on May 9 becoming the most viewed indie film in the shortest period of time.
On its opening day on April 17, some 10,000 people watched the film. This increased to 100,000 in just nine days at an unprecedented pace, according to its distributor CGV Movie Collage on Friday.
The movie, based on the infamous Miryang gang rape in 2004, depicts the tragic story of a victimized girl. As of April 29, it reached the 150,000 audience mark, breaking the record of “Jiseul,” which sold 140, 490 tickets in 12 days.
Amid the opening of such large scale commercial films as “The Fatal Encounter,” “The Target” and “Amazing Spiderman 2,” it has succeeded in attracting average audiences of 2,000 on any week day.
The film, directed by Lee Su-jin, has received a total of eight awards locally and overseas, including the 18th Pusan International Film Festival, Morocco Marakesh Film Festival and the Rotterdam Film Festival in the Netherlands.