Jeon Gayoung is an independent film director. Born in 1990, she wanted to be the producer of a popular TV show about movies when she was a teenager. That’s why she started a degree in mass communication before realizing that this job wasn’t for her. She then enrolled at the Film, TV & Multimedia Department of the Korea National University of Arts, but she quit less than two years later in order to focus all her time and energy on novel projects. She would not persever...More

Jeon Gayoung is an independent film director. Born in 1990, she wanted to be the producer of a popular TV show about movies when she was a teenager. That’s why she started a degree in mass communication before realizing that this job wasn’t for her. She then enrolled at the Film, TV & Multimedia Department of the Korea National University of Arts, but she quit less than two years later in order to focus all her time and energy on novel projects. She would not persevere on that path, though, as she eventually estimated that she wasn’t talented enough for literature. Instead, she started making films, all by herself. After a dozen or so of short movies, usually shot entirely over the course of a single day as she was too impatient for shooting to last longer, she put up her own money to produce her first feature project, <Bitch on the Beach> (2016), in which she also starred. Her sophomore film, <Hit the Night> (2017) won the Vision-Director’s Award (an award that used to be given to two promising independent directors) at the Busan International Film Festival and was later invited to the main competition of the Rotterdam International Film Festival. She took once again the lead role in her next feature film, <HEART> (2019), and in 2021, she announced that she had signed up to direct a mainstream film for CJ ENM. Starring Jun Jongseo and Son Sukku, the romcom <Nothing Serious> stayed true to Jeon’s brand as it revolved around two anxious persons unlucky in love who become friends with benefits after meeting through a dating app. Although reviews were mixed, this work allowed her to win Best Screenplay in Film at the Baeksang Arts Awards.Less