Forgot password

Alongside the rise of the commercial industry, Korean films from the independent sector have continued to secure invitations at festivals in all corners of the globe. While many in the industry have expressed concern with no Korean films in Cannes this year, Korean films like the documentaries The Sense of Violence (2024) and Photosynthesizing Dead in a Warehouse (2024) were screened in Berlinale – along with independents titles including Hong Sangsoo’s What Does Nature Say to You (2025) and Kang Mi-ja’s Spring Night (2024). Korean Dream: The Nama-Jinheung Mixtape (2024) was also invited to Rotterdam.

The Jeonju International Film Festival that recently wrapped up its 26^th Edition with a strong program featured an array of independent films including 3670 (2025) and Summer’s Camera (2024) that premiered at the San Francisco and BFI Flare Festival in London, respectively.

This week we track some of the trends in independent film on the global festival circuit over the last 25 years beginning Jeong Jae-eun’s Take Care of My Cat (2001) and Yang Ik-june’s Breathless (2008). It will then turn to Bleak Night (2010), The King of Pigs (2011), The World of Us (2016) before concluding with 3670 and Summer’s Camera.

Take Care of My Cat (2001) – BIFF as a Launching Pad for Korean Indies on Festival Circuit

The seminal Take Care of My Cat directed by Jeong Jae-eun was significant for many reasons. Screening in the Busan International Film Festival’s (BIFF) competition section New Currents, it was then invited to festivals in Europe, Asia, and North America including Berlinale and the Toronto International Film Festival. Busan has been instrumental in propelling Korean independent cinema onto the global festival circuit – later titles such as the award-winning films The Journals of Musan (2010), Han Gong-ju (2013), House of Hummingbird (2018) and The Apartment with Two Women (2021) all premiered at BIFF.

As a coming-of-age drama focusing on young people as they struggle to find a place in a rapidly evolving society it also featured many of the characteristics of Korean independent cinema in the contemporary era. The film stars Bae Doona, Lee Yo-won, Ok Ji-young, Lee Eun-sil and Lee Eun-jo as five young women after they graduate from high school in Incheon. Often helmed by new and young directors, these films have tended (though not always) to delve into the difficulties that this generation have encountered. It was also notable for focusing on female characters. The film was re-released in 2021 celebrating 20 years since its hit cinemas.

Breathless (2008) – Social Realist Dramas

Hard-hitting social dramas have featured at festivals in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Yang Ik-june’s gritty Breathless (2008) provided a template in some respects for independent films that came later in the 2010s. After premiering at the Asian Summer Film Festival in Barcelona and then screening at BIFF, it went on to win the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) as well as the Grand Prize at Tokyo Filmex. It was invited to multiple festivals and secured a theatrical release in the UK through Terracotta Distribution. It also accumulated more than 123,000 admissions in Korea’s domestic market, a huge tally for an independent film.

Yang who sold his home to finance the film also stars as the lead. He plays a foul-mouthed loan shark who forms a platonic relationship with a high school student (Kim Kkot-bi). Both having dealt with domestic abuse find a connection but the gangster who now resorts to violence himself as he beats up and curses those around him signifies the lasting effects child abuse can have.

Focusing on working class characters through its handheld camera work, its realist aesthetic would also be seen in many Korean independent films to come. Park Jung-bum’s The Journals of Musan that also won the Tiger Award in Rotterdam adopts a similarly grim tone. Interestingly, Park also featured as the lead.

Bleak Night (2010)– KAFA Films on Festival Circuit

The Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) has continued to play a leading role in nurturing young filmmakers and giving them opportunities to make films. Bong Joon Ho’s KAFA graduation short film Incoherence (1994) was invited to the Vancouver International Film Festival marking the beginning of his extremely successful career on the global stage. KAFA has since supported feature films directed by Korea’s new generation of young filmmakers.

One interesting case is Yoon Sung-hyun’s graduation project Bleak Night (2010) that premiered at the Busan International Film Festival where it won the New Currents Award beginning its journey on the festival circuit travelling to Hong Kong, Rotterdam, among other festivals. The film stars Jo Sung-ha as a father who is searching for answers following the death of his son (Lee Je-hoon) and approaches two of his friends acted by Seo Jun-young and Park Jeong-min. The film’s innovative use of flashbacks reveals the events that lead to the death.

Later KAFA titles that have also traveled on the festival circuit include Hong Seok-jae’s Socialphobia (2015), Ahn Gooc-jin’s Alice in Earnestland (2015), Kim Uiseok’s After my Death (2017) and Kim Se-in’s The Apartment with Two Women (2022).

Bleak Night was also notable for the breakout roles by Lee Je-hoon and Park Jeong-min, now established stars in the industry. A similar trend was also evident in Socialphobia (Ryu Jun-yeol) and After my Death (Jeon Yeo-been).

The King of Pigs (2012) – Korean Animation at Festivals

Before Train to Busan, Yeon Sang-ho had developed a strong reputation for his dark and low-budget animations The King of Pigs (2011) and The Fake (2013). The former, which also premiered at the Busan International Film Festival would feature at numerous festivals including Cannes where it screened in the sidebar Directors’ Fortnight. It was the first Korean animated film to be invited to the Croisette.

With its bold and brutal depiction of bullying in the classroom, it follows a man (Oh Jung-se) who has just murdered his wife and meets a former school friend (Yang Ik-june) and they begin talking about their time being bullied at school. The film was based on Yeon’s own experiences at middle school.

Although Korean animation doesn’t have the profile that the US and Japanese animation industries have, Korea’s industry has been gaining further prominence on the festival circuit that’s on display this year with the animated feature The Square (2024) closing Udine Far East Film Festival and being invited to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. In Cannes this year, the only Korean film at this year’s event is an animated short Glasses (2025) directed by Joung Yu-mi, a KAFA graduate.

The World of Us (2016) – Female Voices at Renowned Festivals 

While female directors have long been central in Korea’s independent sector illustrated through Jeong Jae-eun’s aforementioned Take Care of My Cat and also Byun Young-joo’s The Murmuring (1995), in the 2010s this felt even more pronounced with further works helmed by women filmmakers getting into some of the world’s leading film festivals.

Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Us (2016) was one of several such films that follows an elementary school student (Choi Soo-in) and the pressures she faces both in and out of the classroom.  The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival that also screened Yoon’s acclaimed short Sprout (2013) starring Kim Su-an before she became famous for her role in Train to Busan (2016).

The World of Us went on to receive significant critical acclaim for how it captures the difficulties experienced by young children adopting a narrative told from their perspective. This was also repeated in Yoon’s subsequent film The House of Us (2019).

Yoon was one of several female filmmakers who were securing invitations at leading festivals. July Jung’s A Girl at My Door (2014) and Next Sohee (2022) premiered in Cannes, Kim Bora’s House of Hummingbird (2018) screened at dozens of festivals winning awards at Berlin and Tribeca and Yoon Danbi’s Moving On (2020) also picked up awards in Busan and Rotterdam. Kim Se-in’s The Apartment with Two Women was also invited to Berlin.

House of the Seasons (2024) – New Styles Emerge  

In the 2020s, Korean independent films were beginning to feel a little less dour and bleak even when they deal with complex themes and struggles that’s on display in Oh Jung-min’s House of the Seasons. Set in a rural tofu factory, a family come together for a Jesa memorial ceremony where tensions boil over in mesmerizing fashion. The film stars Woo Sang-jeon, Son Sook, Oh Man-seok and Ahn Min-young.

Both tragic and comical, there is a vibrancy to the film even as it gets darker that made it one of the significant discoveries at the Busan Film Festival in 2024. It echoed other films like A Wild Roomer (2022), which also premiered in Busan and brought together different tones.

House of the Seasons was invited to the Sydney Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival. It also performed robustly in Korea selling 33,361 tickets with its alluring posters attracting attention designed by Studio Diverse.  

3670 (2025) & Summer’s Camera (2024) – LGBTQ-themes  

A noticeable trend of late is the increasing number of films in the independent sector that deal with LGBTQ themes, and they are being invited to festivals overseas with 3670 having had its first public screening in the San Francisco, while Summer’s Camera headed to London before both had their local premieres in Jeonju.  It follows other films tackling this topic including Lee Mi-rang’s Concerning My Daughter (2023).

Park Joonho’s 3670 follows a North Korean defector played by Cho You-hyun who enters Seoul’s gay community. Divine Sung’s Summer’s Camera focuses on a student (Kim Si-a) who discovers a secret his father was harboring when she gets the pictures from his camera developed. She also forms a relationship with a girl from the soccer team.

Both narratives are told in a tender and engrossing fashion; they focus more on the relationships rather than the wider issues of discrimination. 3670, for instance, feels very different compared to The Journals of Musan that’s also about a North Korean defector reflecting how independent films have continued to evolve.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic