Ji-won Han

Born in 1989, independent animation director Han Ji-won got her start with the 2010 short film "Kopi Luwak", which she made while attending the Korea National University of Arts. The film won the Grand Prize at the Seoul Indie-AniFest. Her next short "The Water" followed in 2011, screening at Indie Anifest that same year. In 2013, she presented "On the Way to School" at the Bucheon International Animation Film Festival. Her feature film debut finally came in early 2015, when she released "Clearer Than You Think", a modestly sized animated feature that revolved around several characters struck with difficult life decisions. It received positive notices from critics, even drawing comparisons to Japan’s Makoto Shinkai. Her following short "The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns" (2022) earned her again the top prize from the Seoul Indie-AniFest, 12 years after her first. With "The Summer" (2023), she brought to the big screen the award-winning novel about a lesbian romance penned by Choi Eun-young. (Source: koreanfilm.or.kr)