©Courtesy of Neon

Somehow, you feel the title is almost unjustified, the rescue in Na Hong-Jin‘s “Hope” appears to be compromised before the disaster fully reveals itself. Communication has collapsed in a remote South Korean village, and a creature is nearby, resulting in human panic, which often turns fear into something messier, more violent, and harder to contain.

NEON has released the initial trailer for “Hope“, which was written and directed by Na and will be available at theaters this fall. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival’s Competition section saw the premiere of the film, with the official Cannes listing it as 160 minutes long and putting it among this year’s Palme d’Or contenders.

Hope Harbor is where the official setup takes place, as police outpost chief Bum-seok and officer Sung-ae are summoned to investigate a mysterious creature that has wreaked havoc on the village.

Sung-ki and a group of hunters set out to follow the beast in the nearby forest, but were instead hunted. According to the official synopsis, ignorance ‘plants the seed of disaster’, leading to human conflict and ultimately, tragedy on a cosmic scale.

The cast includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander, and Michael Fassbender, as well as Taylor Russell,

The Cannes credits list cinematography by Hong Kyung-pyo, music by Michael Abels, production design by Lee Hwokyoung, and editing by Kim Sunmin.

“Hope” is a significant return for Na. The last film he made, “The Wailing“, was characterized by village hysteria, spiritual dread, procedural confusion, and folk horror, and it is considered one of the great genre films of the 2010s.

“Hope” has already received a lot of attention from Cannes, with early reactions from the festival positioning it as one of the major genre-film events of the year. The heat plays a crucial role for NEON, which has built its identity on bold Cannes breakouts, such as “Parasite” and “Anatomy of a Fall“.