A massive box office success in South Korea, A Taxi Driver is based on the true story of German journalist Jürgen Hinzpeter and the driver who helped him document a dark chapter of Korean history. After the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979, government forces killed hundreds of students and locals protesting General Chun Doo-hwan’s takeover. Hearing of the turmoil, Hinzpeter decides to go and investigate.

Bringing appealing, everyman levity to the tale is well-known Korean actor Song Kang-ho as a widowed taxi driver for whom the demonstrations are a headache. All he cares about is supporting himself and his young daughter, so he jumps at the chance to earn a hefty fare by driving the foreigner from Seoul to Gwangju. He soon realizes that they are in for far more than he expected, taking enormous risks to enable Hinzpeter’s reporting, contributing to one of the few visual testimonies of the Gwangju massacre, and leaving his own beliefs shaken.

In competition for the FIPRESCI Prize.