Park Heung-sik (; born 1965) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.

Career

Park Heung-sik studied Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences at

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the " SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in th ...

. After graduating in the 8th class of the prestigious Korean Academy of Film Arts, Park first trained as an assistant director under Park Kwang-su and

Hur Jin-ho Heo Jin-ho (; born August 8, 1963) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Career Heo Jin-ho graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in philosophy and went on to study filmmaking at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. His first st ...

. As seen in his feature directorial debut ''

I Wish I Had a Wife ''I Wish I Had a Wife'' is a 2001 South Korean film about a lonely banker who meets a schoolteacher. Plot Bong-soo (Sol Kyung-Gu) has been working as manager of a small bank in an apartment complex for three years. During his three years there, ...

'' (2001), Park focuses on capturing the delicate flow of emotions that reveal themselves in the ordinary routines of the day. His second film, ''

My Mother, the Mermaid ''My Mother, the Mermaid'' (; lit. "The Mermaid Princess") is a 2004 South Korean film about a young woman who quarrels with her mother but is somehow transported back in time and sees her parents' courtship. In her youth, her mother was a haenyeo ...

'' (2004) was an acting showcase for

Jeon Do-yeon Jeon Do-yeon (; born February 11, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, making her the second Korean actress to win an acting award at a prestigious film festival, and Best Performance by an Ac ...

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

s, making more apparent Park's talent in drawing natural acting from his actors and capturing it within the lyrical frame of his film. His third film '' Bravo, My Life!'' (2005) was a family drama set against the political upheaval of the late 1970s/early 1980s. In 2008 Park took on the challenge of directing a 16-episode

TV drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

adapted from a

chick lit Chick lit is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at younger women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers while writers and critics have rejected its inherent sexism. Novels id ...

novel. ''My Sweet Seoul'' depicted the lives of thirty-something modern-day career women. Park was among the four directors who worked on ''Sorry, Thanks'', a 2011 omnibus film dealing with the profound relationships people establish with their pets. His short ''My Little Sister'' is about a six-year-old girl's separation from her dog, which she treats as an imaginary sibling. When the girl's mother gets pregnant with her second child, the family decides to put the dog up for adoption, a frequent occurrence in Korea. His 2012 film ''Children of Heaven'' is set at a middle school where a temporary teacher is called on to take care of troubled students. Funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education for raising awareness of the issues teenagers often face, such as school violence, the film avoids being a typical message movie by the sympathetic treatment of its characters.

Filmography

*'' A Single Spark'' (1995) – assistant director *''The Coat'' (1996) – assistant director *'' Christmas in August'' (1998) – assistant director *''Young-hee and Joon-ki'' (

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, 1991) –

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, screenwriter *''

'' (2001) – director, screenwriter *''

'' (2004) – director, screenwriter *'' Bravo, My Life!'' (2005) – director, screenwriter *''My Sweet Seoul'' (TV, 2008) – director *''My Little Sister'' (

from ''Sorry, Thanks'' omnibus, 2011) – director, screenwriter *''Children of Heaven'' (2012) – director, screenwriter *'' Memories of the Sword'' (2015) – director, screenwriter *'' Love, Lies'' (2016) – director

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Heung-sik 1965 births Living people People from Seoul South Korean film directors South Korean screenwriters Yonsei University alumni Best Director Paeksang Arts Award (film) winners