“In Water” (Jeonwonsa Film Co.)

Filmmaker Hong Sang-soo’s 29th project, “In Water,” will hit local theaters on April 12.

“In Water” follows Seong-mo (Shin Seok-ho), an aspiring film director who has recently given up acting and decides to self-fund his own project. He and two friends go to an island to shoot the movie together, but struggling with what to make, as Seong-mo wanders around the rocky shores to find inspiration. There, he encounters a young woman picking up trash.

The 62-year-old auteur’s latest film was screened in the newly established Encounters sidebar competition category at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival, which ended Feb. 26.

The film festival’s artistic director Carlo Chatrian touted the film as “minimal as usual but (in an) even stronger way starting with blurring image.”

The film is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year.

Hong’s longtime partner and actor Kim Min-hee does not appear in “In Water,” but she participated as a line producer. Hong and Kim have been romantically involved since 2015, while the director is separated from his wife he married in 1985.

“In Water” (Jeonwonsa Film Co.)