It’s not a *black film* but it’s one of a handful of films that I’m really looking forward to checking out this year – South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho’s sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer.

Some of you will recognize Joon-Ho as the mastermind behind that thrilling 2006 creature-feature The Host; he directed Snowpiercer from his own script, a project that’s being produced by another South Korean superstar filmmaker in Chan Wook-Park (Oldboy).

The film stars an ensemble cast of revered actors, including Ed Harris, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Kang-ho Song and Ah-sung Ko (who both starred in The Host), and Octavia Spencer.

Synop for Snow Piercer:

Set in a future where, after a failed experiment to stop global warming, an Ice Age kills off all life on the planet except for the inhabitants of the Snow Piercer, a train that travels around the globe and is powered by a sacred perpetual-motion engine. A class system evolves on the train but a revolution brews.

The classes referenced in the synopsis are segregated by train section, with the lowest class inhabiting the rear of the train, and the highest, the front end.

Octavia Spencer plays one of the inhabitants in the Snow Piercer’s rear, who joins the brewing revolt amongst the lower class, in order to save her son, who’s been abducted by the class in the front section of the train.

The Weinstein Company will release the film this year, although an exact date hasn’t been set yet.

In the meantime, courtesy of our friends at Twitch, a new set of character posters have surfaced in Korea. Below you’ll find Octavia Spencer’s full character poster. 

Go to Twitch for the entire set.

Up next for the busy Ms Spencer, Diablo Cody’s directorial debut, and Fruitvale to name a few.