Born in 1969, PARK Il-hyeon is an art director who graduated from an art school before debuting in theater and commercials, until a fateful gathering with people working in the art department in films led him to serve as prop master for CHOI Jin-soo’s <The Hair Dresser> (1995), at a time when the duties of production design were not as clearly defined as today. After working as set designer on HUR Jin-ho’s classic romance <Christmas in August> (1998), he was o...More

Born in 1969, PARK Il-hyeon is an art director who graduated from an art school before debuting in theater and commercials, until a fateful gathering with people working in the art department in films led him to serve as prop master for CHOI Jin-soo’s <The Hair Dresser> (1995), at a time when the duties of production design were not as clearly defined as today. After working as set designer on HUR Jin-ho’s classic romance <Christmas in August> (1998), he was offered his first job as art director for the action film <Swiri> (1999), which is widely considered the first blockbuster of Korean cinema. PARK went on to contribute to a large number of important works in Korean cinema’s renaissance, such as LEE Chang-dong’s <A Peppermint Candy> (1999) and OH Seung-oh’s <Kilimanjaro> (2000). The latter in particular is a title he holds close to heart as the challenge it posed to him led him to question the conventions found in Korean films of the time and to define his own approach to production design. RYOO Seung-wan’s <Crying Fist> (2004) marked the first time he was credited as a production designer. Since then, he has been extremely busy, with notable works including the historical drama film <May 18> (2007), which recreated the 1980 Gwangju uprising, the action film <Sector 7> which was entirely filmed in 3D, and the period piece <The Servant> (2010), for which he was name best technician of the year by the Korean Association of Film Critics. In 2018, he earned a lot of praise for his recreation of 1990s’ North Korea in <The Spy Gone North> (2017), including the private residence of KIM Jong-il. He naturally dominated the awards season, earning Best art direction from the Blue Dragon Film Awards, the Grand Bell Film Awards, the Buil Film Awards and the Korean Film Producers Association Awards. Always up for a challenge, PARK drew attention again when he helped recreate the Geoje POW camp during the Korean War for <Swing Kids> (2018), and more recently for building the whole interior of a passenger aircraft for <OK! MADAM>.Less