In the contemporary Korean cinema, director Lee Eon-hee, known professionally as E. oni, is recognised for her quietly revolutionary voice in telling human stories. E.oni was part of the first graduating class of the Korea National University of Arts, where she majored in film. Her early career was rooted in foundational, behind-the-scenes work: she served as an assistant director and script supervisor on The Happy Funera Director (2000) and contributed to the screenplay of the now-iconic indie film Take Care of My Cat (2001). Her directorial debut, …ing (2003), was warmly received both domestically and abroad, particularly in Japan, where its success led AMUSE Entertainment to offer her the helm of the romantic comedy Love Exposure (2007). After a brief hiatus, she made a striking return with the psychological drama Missing in 2016.

With her latest film – an adaptation of Jaehee, the first story from Park Sang-young’s acclaimed queer fiction collection Love in the Big City – E.oni takes a bold and empathetic leap into LGBTQ+ storytelling. Exploring themes of identity, friendship, queerness, and the subtle violences of misunderstanding, the film resists melodrama in favour of emotional truth. Centering on the personal bond between Heung-soo and Jae-hee, the film quietly challenges the heteronormative frameworks often seen in Korean media, without sacrificing accessibility or nuance.

During the 27th Far East Film Festival, E.oni spoke exclusively to View of the Arts about her creative process – how she built trust with actors Kim Go-eun and Noh Sang-hyun, the difficulty of balancing authenticity with commercial constraints, and the delicate responsibility of portraying queer identities in a society still grappling with acceptance. Her approach is as thoughtful as it is courageous, reflecting a director who not only listens closely to her characters but also to the world around them. As the first mainstream Korean filmmaker to center a story like this with such care, E.oni reaffirms the power of cinema to bring empathy, open dialogue, and illuminate lives too often pushed to the margins.

View of the Arts: The friendship between Jae-hee and Heung-soo is the emotional heart of the film. How did you approach directing that dynamic, especially considering how their contrasting experiences of love and identity shape the narrative over time?

E.oni: As you already know, the film is based on the novel and the short story, so there was already a bit of framing to the narrative. And of course, their relationship is the core of the story. I was thinking about how to extend it. In addition to their relationship, each character has a narrative of their own. While telling their stories, I was looking for a way to link them together.

VOA: What was important to you in telling Heung-soo’s story, and how did you approach portraying his queerness sincerely and thoughtfully?

E.oni: This is actually why I pondered telling the story. But you know, sometimes there are films about dying, but that doesn’t mean I have to die or experience it myself to tell the story. Luckily, I got help from some friends who also gave me courage. I wanted to create something that the community and my friends could be proud of.

VOA: Kim Go-eun delivers a remarkable performance, possibly one of the finest of her career. What was your collaboration like with her on this project, and how did you both work to bring out the vulnerability and complexity of Jae-hee, especially when tackling the domestic violence aspect?

E.oni: With Kim Go-eun, we didn’t need a lot of time to discuss things because she understood the story very well. She also knew what I wanted from the character. It was a very easy process—she’s a great actress. As a woman in Korea, it’s something we all experience and hear about, so it was easy for her to understand.

VOA: The film’s editing and cinematography contribute greatly to its emotional rhythm and naturalistic tone. Can you talk about your collaboration with your editor and cinematographer, and how you shaped the visual and temporal language of the film?

E.oni: I’ve known the cinematographer and editor since film school and also worked with them on a series before. They are very knowledgeable, and without them, I don’t think I could have done this project at all. I’m not sure if I can mention their names here, but both were absolutely crucial to the film.

VOA: How was working with Noh Sang-hyun? Did you have to discuss his role in detail?

E.oni: Unlike with Kim Go-eun, we had to discuss Noh’s role a lot to really get to know the character. But in the end, he did very well.

VOA: After Heung-soo comes out to his mother, the heartbreaking scene in which she prays for his “healing” seems to reflect not only the specific context of Korean society, but also a broader global conflict – one in which love and prejudice painfully coexist within families. To what extent do you feel this scene reflects the current, still-evolving but not yet fully open, global perception of LGBTQ+ identities? And how do you see works like yours playing a role in bridging the difficult gap between acceptance and tradition?

E.oni: I was very curious about how the character of the mother would be perceived outside of Korea. Heung-soo’s mom is a very Korean character. Before Heung-soo’s coming out, she’s someone who had never met a queer person in her life – or at least never realized it – and likely never even imagined that such people could exist around her – most people in Korea think that way. One could argue that she isn’t to blame for her ignorance, since she was never given that information. But when you consider that such ignorance can cause harm to others, it becomes clear that this kind of unawareness can also be a form of violence.

In that sense, I still believe Heung-soo’s mother is quite a positive figure. She doesn’t reject her son, and she tries to understand him. From her perspective, acknowledging that Heung-soo is “different” (in the way many Koreans might think) means fearing for the difficult life he might have to live. She’s someone who wants, more than anyone, for her beloved son to be truly happy. That’s why I didn’t want to blame her. I wanted to give her a chance. I hoped that she could come to understand that even if it’s her own child, each person is an individual with their own identity – and that love doesn’t give us the right to force others into the mold we want them to fit.

I don’t think a film should force the audience to think a certain way. And I didn’t want to make that kind of film. Understanding doesn’t come from coercion. I simply hoped that, by showing characters like Jae-hee and Heung-soo naturally, with warmth and affection, viewers might come to see them with empathy. And maybe—just maybe—when they meet people who are different from them in real life, they might understand a little more than they did before watching the film.

I’ve realised that the world won’t change overnight. But I still want to believe that because there are people who keep working toward change, things will slowly, gradually get better.

VOA: This film, unlike many Korean dramas that are often highly stylised, delivers a vivid and textured sense of realism – almost as if it’s alive. I’m curious how you visually and narratively constructed the reality of young people living in a modern urban setting.

E.oni: I actually thought I had styled the film quite a bit—no? [laughs] But hearing that the style doesn’t feel excessive and comes across cinematically makes me happy. Thank you for the compliment.

At its core, I see this as a youth film. Youth is a time that’s given to all of us equally, and I felt it was very important to capture the vividness of that moment. Even though the story spans from thirteen years ago to the present, I didn’t want to overly focus on recreating a specific period in time. Instead, I wanted every moment in the film to feel like now. I hoped that the audience could experience those moments alongside the characters, as if they were living those times together.

Of course, every audience member comes to the film with different ages, genders, and life experiences, so it’s probably impossible to create something that everyone can fully relate to. But I did my best to weave together universal experiences that many people go through in life with the unique episodes of the film’s characters, so that those moments could resonate as both specific and shared.

VOA: Which part of writer Park Sang-young’s novel resonated with you the most? Also, the film leaves out the subject of HIV – was this a deliberate choice? If so, could you share the reasoning behind it?

E.oni: This film is based on Jaehee, the first short story from Park Sang-young’s collection Love in the Big City. Jaehee itself does not contain any HIV-related narrative, and according to our contract with the author, we were not permitted to use content from any of the other stories in the collection. That’s also why the storyline about the mother having cancer was excluded. While that might be the practical reason, I personally felt that within this film, the most important issue for the character Heung-soo was coming to terms with his identity and accepting himself. That’s what I wanted to focus on.

Also, since this was the first major LGBTQ-themed film to be attempted within the realm of Korean commercial cinema, it was essential to carefully consider how the film would be received by the general public and to what extent we should approach certain topics. I was fully aware that for some viewers, especially within the LGBTQ community, the film might come across as too “soft.” Finding the right balance was incredibly important, and the result of that effort is the film we have today.

Written and interviewed by Maggie Gogler

Translator / Interpreter: June Kim

Image courtesy of View of the Arts

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