[Edaily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] Director Na Hong-jin’s film “Hope” has made its mark in North America. Following a successful premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival, Director Na received the Action Cinema Award, earning recognition for both the film’s artistic merit and his directorial skills.

“Hope” made its North American premiere at the recently held 25th New York Asian Film Festival, where it was invited to screen in the Centerpiece section—the festival’s flagship program. Following the screening, Director Na Hong-jin personally participated in a Q&A session with the audience to discuss the film.
At this year’s festival, Director Na received the “Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema.” This award is presented to filmmakers who have contributed to the advancement of the action genre, and in addition to receiving the award, Director Na was also selected as the focus of a retrospective highlighting his feature-length directorial works, *The Chaser*, *The Yellow Sea*, and *The Wailing*.
Overseas media also continued to praise the film. Foreign outlets highly commended *Hope*’s original direction, large-scale action, and genre-bending imagination, describing it as “a film that exceeds audience expectations” and “a cinematic experience of overwhelming scale.” In particular, praise poured in for the action sequences, the design of the alien lifeforms, and the polish of the chase scenes in the latter half of the film.