The 27th JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Co-Directors MIN Sungwook and JUNG Junho) presented Special Focus: Ahn Sung-ki's Memorable Films Yet Rarely Seen.
Co-hosted with the Korean Film Archive, this special focus presents a renewed look at the work of AHN Sung-ki, whose career has spanned pivotal moments in Korean cinema. From his roles in Korea–Poland co-productions and bold, unconventional performances to his pro bono work for independent films, the program highlights the cultural significance of these works beyond a simple tribute.
The section features 7 films, 6 Korean and 1 international, highlighting his role in advancing new challenges in Korean cinema from the 1980s to the 2010s.
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| △ From the left: Our Joyful Young Days, Bitter and Sweet (Source: Korean Film Archive) |
In the Korean lineup, Our Joyful Young Days, which earned AHN Sung-ki the Best Actor award at the 32nd Asia-Pacific Film Festival, will be screened. Directed by BAE Chang-ho, the film follows a man and a woman whose lives intersect over many years, leading to love but ultimately ending in tragic separation. Also screening is Bitter and Sweet by LEE Myung-Se, a comedy about a section chief at an electronics company who reaches a turning point when his boss is abruptly forced out, prompting him to finally submit the resignation he has long kept hidden.
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| △ From the left: Taekwondo, The Fair Love (Source: Korean Film Archive) |
MOON Seung-wook’s Taekwondo is about a Taekwondo instructor in Poland who, after years of drifting alone following separation from his family, encounters two individuals who lead him to rediscover love and reflect on the anxieties of his youth. SHIN Yeon-shick’s The Fair Love is about a reclusive camera repairman whose quiet life is upended when he honors a dying friend’s final request to care for his daughter, leading to an unexpected encounter that draws him out into the world.
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| △ From the left: Unbowed, Love and... (Source: Korean Film Archive) |
CHUNG Jiyoung’s Unbowed is about a professor who, after being unjustly dismissed and losing his lawsuit, threatens a judge with a crossbow as a key piece of evidence, the “broken arrow,” mysteriously disappears, casting doubt on the case. With this film, AHN won the Best Actor in the movie category at the 48th Baeksang Awards and the Best Actor at the 32nd Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. ZHANG Lu’s Love and... is about a first assistant gaffer who, after being ridiculed for challenging a director’s understanding of “love,” steals a film canister and flees the set, setting off an unexpected turn of events.
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| △ Sleeping Man |
The only overseas film, OGURI Kohei’s Sleeping Man, is a film that questions what it means to live, as a man falls into a comma after an accident in the mountains. AHN Sung-ki became the first Korean actor to appear in a Japanese film following Korea’s liberation, drawing significant attention at a time when Japanese cinema had not yet been officially opened to the domestic market.
The 27th JEONJU International Film Festival will take place over 10 days from April 29 (Wed) to May 8 (Fri), 2026, across Jeonju City.
The 27th JEONJU IFF Special Focus: Ahn Sung-ki's Memorable Films Yet Rarely Seen
※Listed by Production Year
| Title |
Director |
Genre |
Year |
| Our Joyful Young Days |
BAE Chang-ho |
Fiction |
1987 |
| Bitter and Sweet |
LEE Myung-Se |
Fiction |
1994 |
| Sleeping Man |
OGURI Kohei |
Fiction |
1996 |
| Taekwondo |
MOON Seung-wook |
Fiction |
1998 |
| The Fair Love |
SHIN Yeon-shick |
Fiction |
2009 |
| Unbowed |
CHUNG Jiyoung |
Fiction |
2011 |
| Love and... |
ZHANG Lu |
Fiction |
2015 |
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