Director Huh Jung’s thriller “Hide and Seek” has been selected as the opener of the upcoming London Korean Film Festival, the film’s producer said.

Organized annually by the Korean Cultural Centre UK, the London Korean Film Festival celebrates its eighth anniversary this year.

The thriller, released in August, tells the story of Sung-woo, an established businessman who lives with his wife and two loving children in a luxurious apartment. He one day learns that his brother, whom he cut off contact with more than a decade prior, has gone missing.

The plot of the movie develops as Sung-woo visits his missing brother’s apartment in a slum tenement. There, he runs into a hysterical single mother, Joo-hee, who is convinced someone living in the tenement is spying on them.

Sung-woo notices strange symbols written on every door of the slum apartment complex, and is terrified when he sees some similar symbols written on his own apartment door. The film was praised for its exploration of social segregation and slums.

The film is director Huh’s feature directorial debut. The low-budget (2.5 billion won, $2.4 million) thriller enjoyed surprising box office success when it was released in August, topping the box office on its opening weekend by drawing 1.35 million viewers.

It has drawn 5.6 million viewers so far, currently ranking at No. 7 on this year’s box office list. Currently, director Lee Hwan-kyung’s tearjerker “Miracle in Cell No. 7” tops the chart, while Bong Joon-ho’s English-language sci-fi flick “Snowpiercer” and Han Jae-rim’s period drama “The Face Reader” are ranked at second and third place, respectively.

The London Korean Film Festival runs from Nov. 7 to 22.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)