Recently, the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) announced its first batch of award winners, with South Korean actress Lee Hui-ri winning the “Asian Rising Star Award” for her role in the film “Victory”.
The festival will take place at the Lincoln Center in New York on July 12th, with a special collaboration movie release event at the Korean Cultural Institute in New York. The Korean movie “Victory” has been chosen as this year’s opening film and will have its global premiere on July 12th. Director Park Ban-soo will attend the premiere along with lead actors Lee Hui-ri and Park Sei-won. Lee Hui-ri won the “Asian Rising Star Award” for her performance in the film.
“Victory” tells the story of two passionate girls, Bi-shan (played by Lee Hui-ri) and Mi-na (played by Park Sei-won), who love dancing and create a cheerleading club called “Millennium Girls” in 1999. The film showcases their lively dance routines and music that energize and uplift others.
This is South Korea’s first film centered around cheerleading. In the previously released trailer, Lee Hui-ri speaks in the Gyeongsangnam-do dialect, dances and cheers with her friends, exuding youthfulness and vitality, displaying a different side from her previous roles, which is refreshing to the audience.
In October 2010, Lee Hui-ri debuted as the second generation member of the girl group Girl’s Day. In 2012, she made her acting debut in the Korean drama “Life is Delicious”. Her first lead role in the 2015 drama “Reply 1988” gained immense popularity, followed by roles in “The Entertainer”, “Heart-Pounding Co-habitation”, “When Flowers Bloom, I Think of the Moon”, and “One Hundred Days My Prince”, garnering love from viewers.
“Victory” is set to be released in South Korea on August 14th.