This program welcomes animation director HAN Jiwon, a member of the International Jury of the festival, to talk about her career and creative style leading up to her latest work ”The Summer” and the Netflix film ”Lost in Starlight”.

STATEMENT

As an independent filmmaker, animator, and illustrator, I have developed a unique way of progressing my work and art style while also expanding into commercial projects.

In this lecture, I would like to share how I was able to build opportunities as a small freelancing director—without a company or a regular team—which is relatively rare in the Korean commercial animation industry. I also plan to talk about how my creativity has survived and evolved throughout this journey.

By introducing some of my past works, such as commercial ads and trailers of my short films, I will illustrate how my vision and art style have shifted depending on resources and working environments.

Overall, the lecture will cover my past seven years of growth as a director, focusing on how I’ve sought to keep a balance between independent work and commercial projects.

PROFILE

HAN Jiwon

HAN Jiwon is an animated film director, illustrator, and comic book writer based in Seoul, Korea. Her work often explores the dreams and emotional experiences of youth, focusing on the subjective moments of characters living in Korea’s pressure-filled society. Jiwon Han began her film career with the short animation Kopi Luwak while studying at the Korean National University of Arts, which earned her the Grand Prize at the Seoul Indie Ani-fest in 2010. She later released a feature-length compilation of her short animations, Clearer Than You Think. Her projects include the web animation series Recipe to My Daughter, contributions to the Kakao TV web drama Amanza, and the short-form animated series The Summer, based on the original novel by Choi Eun-young. This original animated film ’Lost in Starlight’ is the first animation produced and released by Netflix in Korea, in collaboration with Climax Studio.