Born in 1971, KANG Yun-sung first thought of entering the film industry after seeing actor YOON Suk-hwa on TV when he was a teenager. Even though he decided to study physics in order to follow the path of his father, he was actually more interested in the activities of the film club of his university. He made up his mind to become a film director upon watching Quentin Tarentino’s <Reservoir Dogs> (1992) and so debuted in 1996 with a short movie named <Charlie Brow...More

Born in 1971, KANG Yun-sung first thought of entering the film industry after seeing actor YOON Suk-hwa on TV when he was a teenager. Even though he decided to study physics in order to follow the path of his father, he was actually more interested in the activities of the film club of his university. He made up his mind to become a film director upon watching Quentin Tarentino’s <Reservoir Dogs> (1992) and so debuted in 1996 with a short movie named <Charlie Brown> that he shot in 16mm. As soon as he graduated, KANG crossed the Pacific Ocean to study at the Academy Art University, in San Francisco. As part of his filmmaking courses, he made in 1998 the short movie <Negative Image>, which was later selected for the Indie Forum and the Busan International Short Film Festival. He founded in the U.S. his own film production company “4enter Films” and wrote a first screenplay for a long feature, but the main investing company backed off at the last moment following the arrest for corruption of its CEO. When a Korean film studio showed interested in one of KANG Yun-sung’s screenplays, he decided to fly back to Korea even though he hadn’t graduated yet and spent the following year working on his project, until he was informed of the unexpected bankruptcy of the company. He finally had a chance to work on a film when the producer of <Please Teach Me English> (2003) hired him as an assistant director for his good command in English. After that, he took part in the filming of <Hearty Paws> in 2005, and shot in 2007 a documentary on the retirement concert of Korean rock legend SHIN Jung-hyun. In order to supplement the meager revenue of his screenplays and treatments, he would produce promotional videos for school, restaurants and small businesses. One day, a friend introduced him to an actor who also used to live in the U.S., MA Dong-seok. As they became very close, MA suggested they make together a cop film similar to <Two Cops> (1993). KANG liked the idea and eventually realized it in 2017 with his directorial debut <THE OUTLAWS>, 17 years after he started his film career. The movie was a hit both commercially and critically, and allowed him to win Best New Director at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.Less