The 10 most successful Korean art-house films of all time, including The World of Love

South Korea’s vibrant independent-film community produces waves of movies that travel to festivals around the world, delighting viewers, picking up awards and adding a social counterpoint to the broader pleasures of its mainstream counterparts. Even though most of these indie films struggle to find screens, and thus audiences at home, over the years, art-house breakouts have become more frequent. With Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love, the latest Korean indie to conquer the charts, set to hit Hong Kong cinemas this week, we look back at the Korean box office’s most successful narrative live-action art-house films – defined here as works produced for 1 billion Korean won (US$690,000) or less – that began their journeys at film festivals. The list is based on figures from Kobis (Korean Box Office Information System), which did not compile full figures before 2004. 10. Jiseul (2012) Korean admissions: 145,463 The surprise winner of four awards at the Busan International Film Festival, director O Muel’s Jiseul is a micro-budget, black-and-white period piece. It delves into one of the darkest and least explored chapters of Korean history: the Jeju uprising of 1948, which led to the deaths of an estimated 30,000 people – roughly 10 per cent of the population of what is now South Korea’s prime holiday destination. The film was shot entirely in the authentic Jeju dialect, which required mainland Korean subtitles for local viewers. 9. House of Hummingbird (2018) Korean admissions: 151,389 Kim Bora’s superlative debut House of Hummingbird began its long festival journey at the Busan International Film Festival, ultimately winning around 60 awards worldwide. Park Ji-hu, who is best known today for dramas like All of Us Are Dead, got her big break playing Eun-hee, a quiet middle school girl whose simple life starts to get complicated. Set in 1994 and partly inspired by Kim’s own childhood, the film poetically infuses complex issues into its everyday scenarios. 8. Woman on the Beach (2006) Korean admissions: 159,711 Though prolific and continually celebrated at international film festivals, Hong Sang-soo’s films are infamously unsuccessful in South Korea, but this was not always the case. Earlier in his career, the filmmaker enjoyed several modest hits, the most recent of those being the charming Woman on the Beach, which had its international debut 20 years ago at the Toronto International Film Festival. In typical Hong fashion, the film is about a director-screenwriter who invites a friend to join him at a beachside hotel, only to begin an affair with the girlfriend his friend brings along. 7. Bedevilled (2010) Korean admissions: 161,722 Unlike the commercial arena, South Korea’s independent-film scene has a rocky relationship with genre cinema. But when thrills and quality do connect, sparks fly, and the most potent combination at the box office was Jang Cheol-soo’s sun-soaked, brutal island revenge drama Bedevilled, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Following a traumatic experience in Seoul, a bank clerk visits the poor island where she grew up. There, she reconnects with a childhood friend but turns a blind eye to her horrific mistreatment. 6. One Way Trip (2015) Korean admissions: 189,442 A tale of four youths going on a weekend away together before one enlists in the army, One Way Trip features several up-and-comers, including Suho, a member of the K-pop boy band Exo. This film’s breakout success may partly have been down to cast member Ryu Jun-yeol, as it came out just two months after the gargantuan popularity of his role in the nostalgic drama series Reply 1988. 5. The World of Love (2025) Korean admissions: 196,834 Yoon Ga-eun has been one of Korea’s pre-eminent indie filmmakers ever since her 2016 feature debut The World of Us – and arguably her transcendent 2013 short Sprout before that. But while all her indie features have punched above their weight on the charts, her third full-length film, The World of Love, has seen her receive the most effusive acclaim of her career, starting at the Toronto International Film Festival, and by far her biggest box office performance. The film revolves around a spirited high school girl (Seo Su-bin) who opens Pandora’s box when she refuses to sign a petition at school calling for the suspension of a local sex offender’s release from jail. Still on screens in Korea, the film is close to crossing the 200,000-viewer mark. 4. Han Gong-ju (2013) Korean admissions: 226,071 Han Gong-ju, which launched at the Busan International Film Festival a year after Jiseul, is a devastating high school drama anchored by a scintillating performance by Chun Woo-hee. The role drew the industry’s eyes to the actress, who then appeared in The Wailing (2016) before several hit drama series. In Han Gong-ju, she plays a withdrawn high school girl who transfers to a new school where she tries to lead a quiet life until the traumatic secrets that forced her to move begin to catch up with her. 3. Socialphobia (2014) Korean admissions: 251,819 A feature graduation project from the Korean Academy of Film Arts (Kafa), the provocative Socialphobia was ahead of its time in its depiction of the dangers of social media, which have haunted South Korea over the past decade. The film sees a group of youths team up to investigate the death of a young woman targeted by vicious online attacks. It is also notable for introducing viewers to future stars Byun Yo-han (2018’s Mr. Sunshine) and Ryu Jun-yeol. 2. National Security (2012) Korean admissions: 332,671 A lot of difficult subject matter is peppered among these titles, but none is as incendiary and shocking as the extended torture of political dissidents featured in National Security. From trailblazer Chung Ji-young, whose works have been fiercely political ever since his directorial debut in 1982, this drama vividly recreates what happened behind closed doors in government black sites during the military dictatorship of the 1980s. For some viewers, who reportedly walked out of screenings at the Busan International Film Festival premiere, the reopening of wounds was too much to take. 1. Pieta (2012) Korean admissions: 603,283 Before Parasite by Bong Joon-ho conquered the world on the back of its Palme d’Or win at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, controversial filmmaker Kim Ki-duk set the local box office on fire after his film Pieta became the first Korean movie to win the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2012. The accolade and the press it generated thrust this dark drama about the twisted relationship between a loan shark and a woman claiming to be his mother into multiplexes, giving Kim his first box office hit since 2001’s Bad Guy. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook

The 10 most successful Korean art-house films of all time, including The World of Love

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love hits Hong Kong cinemas, we look at Korean indie films that conquered the box office as well as festivals

10. Jiseul (2012)

As Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love hits Hong Kong cinemas, we look at Korean indie films that conquered the box office as well as festivals