Shin Su-won

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In this Korean name, the family name is Shin.
Shin Su-won
Born1967 (age 56–57)
South Korea
Alma materSeoul National University
Korea National University of Arts
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active2002-present
Korean name
Hangul
신수원
Hanja
申守元
Revised RomanizationSin Su-won
McCune–ReischauerSin Suwŏn

Shin Su-won (born 1967) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Shin wrote and directed Passerby #3 (2010), Pluto (2013) and Madonna (2015). Her short film Circle Line won the Canal+ Prize for Best Short Film at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

Early life[edit]

Shin Su-won studied German language education at Seoul National University, and after graduating, she worked as a middle school teacher in Seoul for 10 years, mostly teaching social studies subjects such as geography, world history and political economy.[1] During this time, she also wrote two books focused on teens. Then in 2010, she enrolled at Korea National University of Arts initially because she wanted to become a novelist. But Shin fell in love with the cinema and filmmaking, and changed her major to screenwriting. At the age of 34, she decided to quit her teaching job and become a film director.[2]

Career[edit]

Using ₩25 million from her own pension, Shin had begun working on her feature directorial debut since 2007. The self-produced independent film Passerby #3, released in 2010, was derived from her own experiences as a thirty-something woman trying break into the industry and become a filmmaker. Passerby #3 won the JJ-Star Award at the 11th Jeonju International Film Festival and the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film award at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival.[3]

Her next project was the short film Circle Line, which tells the story of a middle-aged man killing time on a Seoul subway train as he tries to keep from his family the fact that he was recently laid off. Circle Line was invited to participate in the 65th Cannes Film Festival and won the Canal+ Prize for best short film.[2] It screened in theaters as part of the four-film omnibus Modern Family.[4]

Pluto, Shin's sophomore feature, was a 2012 thriller that explores the competitive nature of the Korean education system.[5][6] It premiered at the 17th Busan International Film Festival,[7] and Shin received a special mention at the Generation 14plus Section of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.[8]

In 2015, her third feature Madonna, about a nurse's aide trying to secure an organ donation, was invited to screen in the Un Certain Regard section of the 68th Cannes Film Festival.[9][10][11][12][1] Her next film, Glass Garden, is a mystery drama film, which was released in 2017.[13]

Her fourth feature film, Light for the Youth, is a drama film about the social issues of the youth such as those who are suffering from poor working conditions in South Korea. The film was partly inspired by the news of a 20-year old worker who was hit and killed by a train while working alone to fix a door at Guui station in eastern Seoul. The film's setting is a call center, which was also inspired by an incident in 2017 where a 19-year-old South Korean intern working at a call center committed suicide due to being overworked. Shin shared that working 10 years as a middle school teacher helped her empathize with the younger generation.[14][15] In 2022, she wrote and directed Hommage, a film about a middle-aged film director who had fallen in a slump due to box office failures and crosses the past and the present after receiving a project to restore a film by a fictional first-generation Korean female director who was active in the 1960s. It was invited to the International Competition section at the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival where it had its world premiere on October 31, 2021.[16] The film also won the Jury Award, the highest award at the 20th Florence Korean Film Festival.[17]

Filmography[edit]

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Park, Jung-ho (21 July 2015). "With dark film, Korean director makes history". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  2. ^ a b "Director Shin Su-won Wins Best Short Film Award at Cannes". The Chosun Ilbo. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  3. ^ Blair, Gavin J. (31 October 2010). "Full List of Tokyo International Film Festival Award Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  4. ^ "Modern Family". M-Line Distribution. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  5. ^ Jang, Sung-ran (4 February 2013). "Director of PLUTO SHIN Su-won: Showing Realities via Unrealistic Movies". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  6. ^ Shin, Su-won (29 November 2013). "Letter from Paris: PLUTO Director SHIN Su-won Reports on 8th FFCP". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  7. ^ "3 Films at the Center of Hot Issues at BIFF: Jiseul, Pluto and Fatal". Korean Film Biz Zone. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  8. ^ Conran, Pierce (16 February 2013). "SHIN Su-won's Latest Triumphs in Generation Section". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  9. ^ Noh, Jean (17 May 2015). "Shin Su-won, Madonna". Screen International. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  10. ^ Conran, Pierce (17 April 2015). "Korean Trio Invited to Cannes Official Selection". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
  11. ^ "Low-Budget Korean Film Hailed at Cannes". The Chosun Ilbo. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  12. ^ Won, Ho-jung (28 June 2015). "Herald Interview: Madonna casts a harsh light onto women suffering in Korea's shadows". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  13. ^ Kil, Sonia (11 September 2017). "Busan Festival to Open With Shin Su-won's 'Glass Garden'". Variety. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  14. ^ Jeong, Na-won; Lee, Jae-lim (November 4, 2020). "Director Shin Su-won offers a thin ray of hope in her latest film". Variety. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  15. ^ Kim, Su-bin (November 10, 2020). "LIGHT FOR THE YOUTH director SHIN Su-won - Exposing the True Face of Korean Society". Korean Film Council. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  16. ^ Jeong Yu-jin (September 29, 2021). "이정은 주연 '오마주', 제34회 도쿄국제영화제 경쟁부문 초청" [Homage', starring Lee Jung-eun, invited to the competition section of the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival]. News1 (in Korean). Retrieved February 5, 2024 – via Naver.
  17. ^ Kim Seon-woo (April 18, 2022). "이정은 주연 '오마주' 20회 피렌체 한국영화제 심사위원상 수상" [Lee Jung-eun's 'Homage' won the Jury Prize at the 20th Florence Korean Film Festival] (in Korean). JTBC. Retrieved February 5, 2024 – via Naver.

External links[edit]

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