With the commercial success of films such as Parasite (2019) and Burning (2018), international acclaim for South Korean cinema has only intensified over the past few years. While directors like Bong Joon Ho, Park Chan-wook, and Hong Sang-soo—a filmmaker to whom many of the works in this selection tip their hat—have found awards recognition everywhere from film festivals to the Oscars®, this season looks beyond the headline names, offering a diverse showcase to the rising stars and emerging voices of one of the most consistently exciting regions in world cinema.

Our series opens with the delicate and tender coming-of-age drama Moving On (2019), a personal debut feature that earned filmmaker Yoon Dan-bi the best first film award in Rotterdam. Alongside Yoon Dan-bi’s film, other stories directed by women filmmakers featuring female protagonists are flourishing in South Korea, and our series contains some of the best recent examples. These include two comedies in Lucky Chan-sil (2019), a loosely autobiographical tale from Hong Sang-soo’s former producer Kim Cho-hee, and Heart (2019), the latest addition to the sassy and unscrupulous cinema of actor-director Jeong Ka-young. We’re also thrilled to feature the exceptional and beloved actress Youn Yuh-jung, with performances she gave before her Best Supporting Actress Oscar® win for Minari afforded her global attention. In addition to her secondary roles in Lucky Chan-sil and the stylish thriller Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020), her prowess for facetious characters takes center stage in The Bacchus Lady (2016), in which she plays a sex worker who helps an old friend with a difficult favour. Varied in style, genre, and theme, the films in this focus—all of which have premiered at international festivals in recent years—aim to give an overview of the landscape of contemporary South Korean cinema, from directors who have forged an independent path away from the beaten track.