For much of its international rise, Korean cinema was sustained by a strong middle: films large enough to attract stars and theatrical audiences, yet flexible enough to accommodate distinctive directors and genre experimentation. That middle has weakened as production costs have increased, attendance has contracted and private investors have concentrated on either very large commercial projects or comparatively inexpensive independent work. The Korean Film Council's mid-budget production support programme, launched in 2025, is an attempt to restore that missing layer. Its first round allocated KRW 9.93 billion to nine films with net production budgets between KRW 2 billion and KRW 8 billion.

Dora(2026)

KO-PICK, KOFIC's outward-facing showcase brand for Korean film intellectual property and industry talent, connects this domestic production strategy to international markets. It does not finance these four films directly. Rather, it represents the global-facing side of a structure in which projects are produced in Korea and subsequently positioned for festivals, markets and co-production partnerships. Ripple by KIM Sun-kyung, Canvas of Blood by Jang Hoon, My Name (2026) by CHUNG Ji-young and Dora (2026) by JULY Jung show how that structure can accommodate established masters and filmmakers entering a new stage of their careers.

Ripple: Genre as an Entry Point

Kim Sun-kyung's feature debut was selected for support under the working title Andong, receiving a KRW 1.2 billion commitment. The project later became Ripple, a crime drama set around the fictional Yedong Kwon clan, which has maintained a dangerous illegal business across generations.

After the death of its eldest male heir, uncertainty surrounding succession triggers a struggle involving relatives, retainers and those who tried to escape. BYUN Yo-han (as Park Gi-tae) plays a man without the family's bloodline who has nevertheless handled its dirtiest work for years. ESOM (as Kwon So-hyun) appears as the eldest daughter, who left for Seoul to distance herself from the business. KIM Jun-han (as Kwon Do-young) plays the insecure successor, while KIM Jong-soo (as Kwon Byeong-ryeol) is the uncle seeking control. Michigan Venture Capital and BY4M Studio are attached to the production, with filmmaker BYUN Sung-hyun participating in the screenplay.

Filming began in April 2026 and concluded in June, with a 2027 theatrical release planned. Rather than asking a new director to remain at micro-budget level, Ripple gives Kim access to genre, recognised performers and a scale capable of creating a substantial fictional world. It treats crime cinema as a bridge between new authorship and an audience-facing theatrical project.

Canvas of Blood: Rebuilding Scale

A Taxi Driver(2017)

Director JANG Hoon makes his long-awaited return to the director's chair, nine years after enthralling audiences with the SONG Kang-ho-starrer A Taxi Driver (2017). This time, he goes further back into history to the Joseon dynasty with Canvas of Blood, a feature about the painting Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land, commissioned by Grand Prince Anpyeong after he described a utopian landscape he saw in a dream. As the painting enchants, two royal brothers, Anpyeong and Grand Prince Suyang, find themselves chasing the throne with opposing dreams of power and paradise.

This premise is led by PARK Bo-gum (as Grand Prince Anpyeong) and KIM Nam-gil (as Grand Prince Suyang), with LEE Hyun-wook (as An Gyeon), the artist who transforms the prince's vision into a painting. Produced by Doodoong and backed for investment and distribution by Plus M Entertainment, the project received KRW 1.5 billion from KOFIC. It belonged to the programme's highest production-cost band, testing whether public money can encourage private investment in films requiring historical sets, costumes and extensive post-production.

Principal photography began in October 2025 and was completed in January 2026. The project is moving through post-production toward a planned 2026 release. A historical drama built around a famous painting and a conflict between artistic idealism and political power cannot be mounted through minimal resources. Canvas of Blood suggests that rebuilding Korean cinema's middle also means protecting ambitious productions that are too costly for the independent sector but no longer automatically secure major-studio financing.

My Name: Public Memory and Public Financing

My Name(2026)

Directed by CHUNG Ji-young, My Name continues the veteran filmmaker's long-standing engagement with the turbulent chapters of modern Korean history, following works such as The Boys (2023), Black Money (2019) and Unbowed (2012). Premiering in the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival, the film opened in Korea in April 2026. Its route to the screen, however, is as important as its festival trajectory.

The project originated with a screenplay selected through a competition organised by the Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation and the Jeju Free International City Development Center. Financing repeatedly failed. Chung and producers Letsfilm and Aura Pictures therefore assembled a production committee and turned to crowdfunding. Nearly 10,000 citizens contributed approximately KRW 400 million, while KOFIC supplied another KRW 890 million. The total production budget was reported at approximately KRW 3 billion.

The story unfolds in 1998 on Jeju Island, where Young-oak, an 18-year-old high school student, struggles with a name he perceives as feminine, a source of constant discomfort in an environment dominated by rigid masculinity and aggressive social hierarchies. At the same time, his mother Jeong-sun experiences unexplained physical and psychological distress, as fragments of a long-repressed past begin to resurface.

As the narrative gradually moves inward rather than forward, the connection between mother and son becomes clearer, linking their personal struggles to a larger historical trauma rooted in the Jeju massacre. YEOM Hye-ran (as Jeong-sun) portrays a woman struggling with her sanity while trying to remain a good mother, while SHIN Woo-bin (as Young-oak) plays a character gradually drawn into a cycle of violence. The production shows how mid-budget support can allow difficult collective history to be approached through accessible characters and theatrical production values.

Chung did not place the Jeju 4·3 Incident at the centre of a conventional historical reconstruction. Instead, he set the main narrative in the period when the suppressed history was gradually becoming part of public discussion, connecting inherited trauma to the violence surrounding Young-oak at school. This approach also made it possible to build the production around an intimate mother-and-son relationship rather than attempting a large-scale recreation of the entire incident.

Dora : Mid-Budget Cinema Across Borders

JULY Jung's Dora reveals another direction for the programme. The director had carried the project for years, initially considering it for her first feature and attempting to develop it more actively from 2019. It eventually entered the scheme as a reserve project after another selected production collapsed, receiving support equivalent to 30 percent of its net production cost.

KIM Do-yeon (as Dora) plays a young woman who travels with her family to a seaside house while suffering from an unexplained skin condition. There she encounters ANDO Sakura (as Nami) and SONG Sae-byeok (as Yeon-su). Led by Korea's Redpeter Films, Dora was made as a co-production involving France's The French Connection and ARTE France Cinéma, Luxembourg's Les Films Fauves and Japanese participation. Solair Partners by K-Wave Media served as main investor; Episode Company took domestic distribution and Finecut handled international sales.

The international structure also shaped the production. Irina Lubtchansky served as cinematographer, visual-effects work was divided between Korea and France, sound work took place in Korea and Luxembourg, and colour grading was completed in France. Dora premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and is scheduled for Korean release in the second half of the year.

Its industrial significance is that public support helped unlock a multinational production rather than merely filling a domestic budget gap. The film also provided Episode Company with its first theatrical distribution title. This illustrates how a mid-budget production may support more than an individual filmmaker: it can provide an entry point for new distributors, encourage international sales arrangements and connect Korean production companies with European financing and post-production infrastructure.

A Necessary Middle, Not a Complete Solution

These four projects suggest that mid-budget production can again become the meeting point between social relevance, genre storytelling, recognised actors and directorial identity. Yet the programme also exposes the investment crisis. Several first-round selections withdrew because they could not secure a main investor within the required three-month period. KOFIC subsequently doubled the programme's budget to approximately KRW 20 billion for 2026 and extended the private-financing deadline to four months.

The outcomes remain uneven. My Name moved quickly through production, Berlin and domestic distribution. Dora used reserve status and public support to assemble an international co-production. Canvas of Blood secured Plus M and completed an expensive period shoot. Ripple, meanwhile, demonstrates the longer development process often required for a debut feature to acquire its financing, cast and final identity.

Public support cannot rebuild theatrical attendance or guarantee distribution. It can reduce the initial risk that prevents films from being made. Ripple gives a debut director professional scale; Canvas of Blood brings an established filmmaker back through an expensive historical project; My Name combines civic participation with institutional backing; and Dora turns state support into international collaboration. Korean cinema's recovery may depend less on discovering one new blockbuster than on restoring the space in which many different kinds of films can exist.

Written by Panos Kotzathanasis
Edited by kofic