A Chungang University graduate born in 1973, CHO Jung-rae debuted as a filmmaker of short movies in 2000 with <Boil>. He later entered television, specifically acting as a producer for public broadcaster KBS, while also contributing to concerts and festivals. His feature film debut came in 2012 with <Duresori : Voice of the East>. In it, two teenagers join the choir during their final year at the National High School of the Traditional Arts. Versed in traditional ...More

A Chungang University graduate born in 1973, CHO Jung-rae debuted as a filmmaker of short movies in 2000 with <Boil>. He later entered television, specifically acting as a producer for public broadcaster KBS, while also contributing to concerts and festivals. His feature film debut came in 2012 with <Duresori : Voice of the East>. In it, two teenagers join the choir during their final year at the National High School of the Traditional Arts. Versed in traditional music they initially take exception to their teacher’s radical tendencies to Western music stylings into the class but eventually warm to his technique. Shot documentary style with non-professional actors, <Duresori> was based on a true story. CHO’s next work was the baseball documentary <WONDERS> (2014), which was released in 2015. The film shows the hardships of an independent baseball team that tries to make it to the big league. Also in 2015, CHO started working on the historical drama <Spirits’ Homecoming> (2015), which dealt with the ever-sensitive issue of forced prostitution by the Japanese Army during World War II. The film found a strong resonance among the Korean population when it was released in 2014, attracting 3.6 million viewers, and earned CHO the Grand Bell Film Award for Best New Director. He later released the follow-up documentary <Spirits’ Homecoming, Unfinished Story> (2017) that featured interviews with some of the last remaining survivors.Less