Lee Su-jin (director)

Lee Su-jin (born 1977) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. His first feature was the award-winning Han Gong-ju (2014).

Lee Su-jin
Born1977 (age 4344)
OccupationFilm director, screenwriter
Years active2002–present
Korean name
Hangul
Revised RomanizationI Su-jin
McCune–ReischauerI Suchin

Career

Lee Su-jin was born in Gimcheon in 1977. He began his filmmaking career directing short films, notably Papa (2004) which received a Korean Film Archive Award at the 30th Seoul Independent Film Festival, and Enemy's Apple (2007) which won Best Film in the A City of Sadness section of the 7th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival.[1][2]

Lee made his feature film directorial debut with Han Gong-ju, which he also wrote and produced. It premiered at the 18th Busan International Film Festival in 2013, where it received the CGV Movie Collage Award and the Citizen Reviewer's Award. Based on the infamous Miryang gang rape case in 2004, the film follows a traumatized, withdrawn teenage girl who is forced to change schools and move to a remote city after a horrific incident, who then attempts to rebuild her life and connect with others through music.[3] Despite the subject, Lee said he "decided to focus more on the life of the victim after the crime rather than the crime itself" and that he "wanted to make a film about how a girl struggles to not let go of her hope" in order "to give courage to all the Han Gong-jus in the world who find themselves in the same situation."[4][5] He said he cast breakout star Chun Woo-hee in the title role because he was struck by her sensitivity and intelligence, and "that she has a face that makes her look familiar."[6] Han Gong-ju went on to more acclaim in the international film festival circuit, winning top prizes such as the Golden Star (Étoile d'or) at the 13th Marrakech International Film Festival, the Tiger Award at the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Grand Prize (Regard d'or) at the 28th Fribourg International Film Festival, as well as the Jury Prize, Critics' Prize and Audience Award at the 16th Deauville Asian Film Festival.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] In 2014, Han Gong-ju was released on 226 screens in South Korea and drew 225,580 admissions, making it one of the most commercially successful Korean low-budget independent films.[14][15] It received multiple domestic awards, including Best Film at the 6th KOFRA Film Awards and Grand Prize at the 2nd Wildflower Film Awards.[16][17] Lee also won Best Independent Film Director at the 14th Director's Cut Awards, Best Screenplay at the 34th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards and Best New Director at the 35th Blue Dragon Film Awards.[18][19]

Filmography

Awards

References

  1. "LEE Su-jin". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  2. "Enemy's Apple". BiFan History. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  3. Sunwoo, Carla (28 March 2014). "Anger grabs center stage in acclaimed film Han Gong-ju". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  4. Stedman, Alex (1 December 2013). "Lee Su-Jin: 'The Challenge Is to Create a New, Entertaining, Bankable Story'". Variety. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  5. Song, Soon-jin (23 December 2013). "LEE Su-jin, Director of HAN GONG-JU: "Not Even a Single Cut Was Wasted"". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  6. Macnab, Geoffrey (29 January 2014). "Tiger directors: Lee Su-Jin, Han Gong-Ju". Screen International. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  7. Jackson, Julie (8 December 2013). "Han Gong-ju wins Golden Star at Marrakech film festival". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  8. Conran, Pierce (9 December 2013). "HAN GONG-JU Wins Top Prize in Marrakech". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  9. Conran, Pierce (4 February 2014). "HAN GONG-JU Wins Tiger Award in Rotterdam". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  10. Lee, Su-jin (10 March 2014). "Director of HAN GONG-JU Shares Behind-the-Scenes Look at Film Festival Scene". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  11. Conran, Pierce (10 March 2014). "Triple Honors for HAN GONG-JU in Deauville". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  12. "Korean Indie Flick Sweeps Awards at French Film Festival". The Chosun Ilbo. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  13. Lee, Claire (6 April 2014). "Han Gong-ju wins top prize in Fribourg". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  14. Conran, Pierce (1 May 2014). "HAN GONG-JU Crosses JISEUL Box Office Total: Hard-Hitting Indie on Impressive Run". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  15. Park, Jin-hai (11 May 2014). "Han Gong-ju draws 200,000 viewers". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  16. "Han Gong-ju picked as best film of 2014 by Korean film reporters". The Korea Herald. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  17. Frater, Patrick (9 April 2015). "Han Gong-ju Wins Korea's Wildflower Film Award". Variety. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  18. Conran, Pierce (4 November 2014). "Top Honors for HILL OF FREEDOM at 34th Korean Film Critics Association Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
  19. Jin, Eun-soo (19 December 2014). "Chun Woo-hee wins best actress at film awards". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2015-05-31.
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