Juries
The 30th Busan International Film FestivalSonje Award Juries
Ratchapoom BOONBUNCHACHOKE
Thailand Director
Bangkok born filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke graduated from Film Department at Chulalongkorn University, and has since continued to create work from his hometown base. His short film, Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall (2020), scooped the Junior Jury Award at the Locarno International Film Festival, propelling him onto the international stage. The film subsequently screened at prestigious festivals in Torino, Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal), Bogotá, Singapore, and Glasgow, solidifying his reputation. His first feature, A Useful Ghost (2025), clinched the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, Cannes 2025, positioning Ratchapoom as a leading voice in the new wave of Thai cinema.
BYUN Young-joo
Korea Director
Director Byun Young-joo first gained global recognition at major international film festivals with her acclaimed documentary trilogy on the victims of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, known as “comfort women”: The Murmuring (1995), Habitual Sadness (1997) and My Own Breathing (1999). She went on to direct feature films including Ador (2002) and Flying Boys (2004), and won the Best Director Award at the Baeksang Awards for Helpless (2012). In 2023, she directed TV drama Black Out (2023), followed by the completion of filming for The Mantis: Original Sin (2025), set to be released in 2025.
LEE Hong-chi
Taiwan Director, Actor
Lee Hong-chi has starred in over ten critically and commercially successful films, including Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018), which was invited to Cannes; Cities of Last Things (2018), winner of the Platform Prize at Toronto; and Thanatos, Drunk (2015), recipient of the Teddy Award at Berlin. With his directorial debut Love is a Gun (2023), he earned international acclaim as a visionary filmmaker with a singular cinematic voice, receiving the Lion of the Future award at the Venice Film Festival 2023. Returning to Venice in 2025, he served on the Venice International Critics' Week jury while premiering his sophomore feature, A Dance in Vain, for which he also worked as cinematographer.
