JANG Joon-hwan, born in 1970, first graduated in English literature before entering the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA). After directing several shorts, he worked with PARK Chan-wook on the script for action blockbuster <Phantom The Submarine> (1999). His feature debut, <Save the Green Planet> (2003) catapulted him onto the radar of many genre film aficionados across the world. His daring mix of thriller, drama, comedy and science fiction led him to be invited ...More

JANG Joon-hwan, born in 1970, first graduated in English literature before entering the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA). After directing several shorts, he worked with PARK Chan-wook on the script for action blockbuster <Phantom The Submarine> (1999). His feature debut, <Save the Green Planet> (2003) catapulted him onto the radar of many genre film aficionados across the world. His daring mix of thriller, drama, comedy and science fiction led him to be invited to many festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the BFI London Film Festival, the Moscow International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival. On top of the directing newcomer honors won at the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Award, JANG picked up Best Film at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and the Golden Raven at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. His impressive debut gave rise to great expectations for his next film, but this wouldn’t arrive until 9 years later, probably due to the fact that all these accolades couldn’t save the film from bombing at the box office. It wasn’t for want of trying, though, as he had several promising projects for his sophomore effort, such as a film about a mermaid or another featuring a farting superhero. He even was in line to helm a follow-up to CHOI Dong-hoon’s <Tazza: The High Rollers> (2006), but the project was later canned by the production company. He directed the Korean segment in <Camellia> (2010), a film omnibus co-produced between Japan, Taiwan and Korea, but it never received a theatrical release. He eventually made his comeback to the big screen with the crime thriller <Hwayi: A Monster Boy> (2013). Starring KIM Yun-seok and CHO Jin-woong in the main cast, the film notched up a remarkable 2.3 million spectators. He followed up in 2017 with the politically-charged historical drama <1987: When the Day Comes> (2017) about the highly publicized torture death in 1987 of a pro-democracy student activist that prompted mass protests and democratic reforms. Despite a particularly fierce competition when it was released at the end of 2017, the film benefited from good reviews and its stellar cast (KIM Yun-seok, HA Jung-woo, KIM Tae-ri), attracting 7.2 million moviegoers. JANG is also married to MOON So-ri, and thus appeared as himself in the actress’ directing debut feature <The Running Actress> (2017). Less