Born in 1975, JANG Hun studied graphic design at Seoul National University. After graduation, he honed his directorial skills as an assistant director to KIM Ki-duk. He started his career with KIM’s <3-Iron>, and was promoted first assistant director for <Time>. His debut film, <Rough Cut> (2008), was written and produced by KIM Ki-duk, and as a result is somewhat reminiscent of KIM’s tone, although it proved much more successful commercially than all of...More

Born in 1975, JANG Hun studied graphic design at Seoul National University. After graduation, he honed his directorial skills as an assistant director to KIM Ki-duk. He started his career with KIM’s <3-Iron>, and was promoted first assistant director for <Time>. His debut film, <Rough Cut> (2008), was written and produced by KIM Ki-duk, and as a result is somewhat reminiscent of KIM’s tone, although it proved much more successful commercially than all of KIM’s films put together. JANG’s second feature, <Secret Reunion> (2010), was financed and distributed by Showbox, allowing him to definitely make a name for himself while also leading him to break all ties with a KIM KI-DUK film. A story about a South Korea agent and a North Korean one teaming up by force of circumstances, <Secret Reunion> was one of the audience’s favorites in 2010. JANG came back into the spotlight the following year with <The Front Line>, a war movie starring KO Soo and SHIN Ha-kyun commemorating the 60th year anniversary of the Korean War. Critics praised the film for its smart use of mystery narrative to reveal the dramatic story of South and North Korean soldiers carrying out meaningless sacrifices trying to capture a nameless hill. However, the film released to little success, as JANG was engulfed in controversy after KIM referred to him as a “traitor” in his autobiographical film <ARIRANG>. JANG’s most recent film <A Taxi Driver>, based on the real-life story of a German reporter who was the first to report on the Gwangju massacre in 1980, became one of the most viewed Korean movies with more than 12 million admissions.Less