ATO is a film production company founded in 2014 by four producers who majored in film planning at the Korea National University of Arts (K’ARTS), namely JE Jeong-ju, KIM Ji-hye, KIM Soon-mo and LEE Jin-hee. The name comes from “ato”, a (supposedly) ancient Korean word meaning ‘gift, present’, in order to reflect the company’s drive to act as a facilitator for indie filmmakers. The company was quick to draw interest in the Korean film market for its production of ...More

ATO is a film production company founded in 2014 by four producers who majored in film planning at the Korea National University of Arts (K’ARTS), namely JE Jeong-ju, KIM Ji-hye, KIM Soon-mo and LEE Jin-hee. The name comes from “ato”, a (supposedly) ancient Korean word meaning ‘gift, present’, in order to reflect the company’s drive to act as a facilitator for indie filmmakers. The company was quick to draw interest in the Korean film market for its production of YOON Ga-eun’s debut feature, <The World of Us> (2016). The children-led tale received worldwide acclaim since its premiere in Berlin and picked up a series of awards back home, including the Grand Prize of the Wildflower Film Awards which recognizes achievements in Korean indie films. From there onwards, the company has worked exclusively with first-time directors, and for the most part fellow graduates of K’ARTS. 2016 was a busy year for Ato, as it started producing <Yongsoon> (2017), SHIN Joon’s feature adaptation of his short <Yong-soon’s Summer> (2014) made as part of his studies at K’ARTS, and took advantage of its experience filming children for <The World of Us> to produce family drama film <HOME>, which would eventually be released in 2018. This was followed by SHIN Dong-seok’s <Last Child>.Less