Jo Sunghee, born in 1979, first majored in industrial design from Seoul National Design before he decided to pursue a career as a film director. A student of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, Jo was invited to the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 to present his graduation short <Don’t Step Out Of The House!> (2008) at the Cinéfondation sidebar, ranking third in that competition, before taking home the Grand Prize from the Mise-en-Scene Short Film Festival. His critically...More

Jo Sunghee, born in 1979, first majored in industrial design from Seoul National Design before he decided to pursue a career as a film director. A student of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, Jo was invited to the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 to present his graduation short <Don’t Step Out Of The House!> (2008) at the Cinéfondation sidebar, ranking third in that competition, before taking home the Grand Prize from the Mise-en-Scene Short Film Festival. His critically acclaimed first feature, the indie post-apocalyptic film <End of Animal> was invited to various international film festivals including Rotterdam IFF, San Francisco IFF, CPH PIX, Vancouver IFF, Dubai IFF (where it won a Special Mention), BFI London IFF and the Cinema Digital Seoul Festival. Hailed as one of the most promising young directors in Korea, Jo made a successful transition to the commercial realm when he debuted in grand fashion in 2012, with the release of the fantasy romance <A Werewolf Boy>. The film was first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and was a hit both on the festival circuit and the domestic market, partly owing to the star pairing of idols Park Boyoung and Song Joongki. This allowed him to receive the Baeksang Arts Award for Best New Director. Despite rather positive reviews, <The Phantom Detective> (2016) failed to draw crowds. His latest and most ambitious project to date, Korea’s first space sci-fi blockbuster <SPACE SWEEPERS> (2021) had its theatrical release plans scrapped as a result of to the Covid-19 pandemic and eventually released on Netflix, where it quickly became one of the most watched shows worldwide. He is now preparing the live action film adaptation of the Japanese anime series <Tokyo Magnitude 8.0>.Less