Lee Joonik and Eom Taehwa's New Works Included... 25.8 Billion Won for Sixteen Mid-Budget Korean Films

Half Are Rookie Directors
Support Scale Expanded Again with Supplementary Budget

The additional supplementary budget will further expand support for mid-budget Korean film productions. The Korean Film Council announced on September 11 that it has selected sixteen mid-budget Korean film projects for support from this year's supplementary budget, allocating a total of 25.77 billion won.

Director Joon-ik Lee of "I Am a Firefly."

The mid-budget production support program, which began last year with a budget of 10 billion won, was increased to 19.86 billion won in this year’s main budget and has grown again with this supplementary funding. The main goals are to foster a virtuous cycle within the industry by revitalizing private investment, and to discover new directors. In reality, eight out of the sixteen selected works are by rookie directors, accounting for half.

Five films with a net production cost of between 2 billion and less than 3 billion won made the list. These include “Ten Birthdays” by director Seokgeun Lee, who drew attention with “On Your Wedding Day”; “The Women in the Jar,” directed by Baek Seungbin and starring Yum Jungah and Park Eunbin; “The Ghost of Bongcheon-dong,” directed by Han Dongsuk and based on a webtoon of the same name; “Nam Eunjeong” by director Kim Donghun; and “That’s a Relief,” directed by Koji Fukada, who previously helmed “Harmonium” and “Nagi Note.”

Six films were selected for the category of net production costs between 3 billion and less than 6 billion won. These are “Da Capo,” directed by Lee Eonhee, known for “Love in the Big City”; “Sato Oh Hoengmok,” a Joseon-era investigation drama directed by Go Dowon; “Korean-Style Apartment Murder,” a thriller set in a confined space with elements of black comedy directed by Woo Inbeom; “My Left Arm,” helmed by Jo Jinmo, which takes a cheerful approach to disability; “Let’s Shake Our Sun,” starring Lee Dohyun and Kim Minha and directed by Park Danhee; and “Kangshi: Workshop of Terror,” reuniting director Woo Moonki and actor Ahn Jaehong from “The King of Jokgu.”

Director Eom Tae-hwa of Livable House (working title). Photo by Yonhap News

Three films are in the segment for net production costs between 6 billion and less than 10 billion won. These include “I Am a Firefly,” directed by Lee Joonik and starring Park Haeil and Park Seojun, depicting tragic events in modern history; “Typhoon” by director Lee Jungho, featuring Han Jimin and Koo Kyohwan as a married couple; and “Cartel,” a Korean-style noir questioning power and absurdity, directed by Uhm Yoona.

As a temporary measure to help overcome the crisis in Korean cinema, a new category for net production costs between 10 billion and less than 15 billion won was established. In this category, “A Better Place to Live (working title),” directed by Eom Taehwa of “Concrete Utopia” and starring Hwang Jungmin, Go Minshi, and Um Munseok, was selected along with “Modub,” a folk shamanism adventure by director Park Jonghyun featuring Yoo Haejin, Im Siwan, and Kim Sohyun. Each of these two projects will receive a 3 billion won grant.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.