A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
Bong Joon Ho
Bong Jun-ho
Joon Ho Bong
Пон Чжун Хо
בונג ג'ון-הו
بونگ جون-هو
ポン・ジュノ
奉俊昊
봉준호
Birthplace:
Daegu, South Korea
Born:
September 14, 1969
Bong Joon-ho (Korean: 봉준호), born September 14, 1969, is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. His films are characterised by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), before achieving both critical and commercial success with his subsequent films: the crime thriller Memories of Murder (2003), the monster film The Host (2006), the science fiction action film Snowpiercer (2013), and the Academy Award-winning black comedy social thriller Parasite (2019), all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea, with Parasite also being the highest-grossing South Korean film in history. All of Bong's films have been South Korean productions, although both Snowpiercer and Okja (2017) are mostly in the English language. Two of his films have screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival—Okja in 2017 and Parasite in 2019; the latter earned the Palme d'Or, which was a first for a South Korean film. Parasite also became the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award nominations, with Bong winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making Parasite the first film not in English to win Best Picture. In 2017, Bong was included on Metacritic's list of the 25 best film directors of the 21st century. In 2020, Bong was included in Time's annual list of 100 Most Influential People and Bloomberg 50.
Adaptation:
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
Assistant Director:
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
Characters:
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
???? The Host 2
Director:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
Director of Photography:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
Editor:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
Lighting Technician:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Love of a Grape Seed
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? Sounds from Heaven and Earth
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
Producer:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Love of a Grape Seed
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2014 Sea Fog
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? Sounds from Heaven and Earth
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
???? Untitled Lee Isaac Chung Project
Screenplay:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Love of a Grape Seed
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2014 Sea Fog
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? Sounds from Heaven and Earth
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
???? Untitled Lee Isaac Chung Project
Screenstory:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Love of a Grape Seed
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2014 Sea Fog
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? Sounds from Heaven and Earth
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
???? Untitled Lee Isaac Chung Project
Story:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Love of a Grape Seed
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2014 Sea Fog
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? Sounds from Heaven and Earth
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
???? Untitled Lee Isaac Chung Project
Writer:
1992 Looking For Paradise
1994 2001 Imagine
1994 Incoherence
1994 The Love of a Grape Seed
1994 The Memories in My Frame
1994 White Man
1996 7 Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than a Lover
1997 Motel Cactus
1999 Phantom: The Submarine
2000 Barking Dogs Never Bite
2003 Memories of Murder
2004 Influenza
2004 Jeonju Digital Project 2004
2004 Sink & Rise
2005 Antarctic Journal
2006 The Host
2008 Tokyo!
2009 Mother
2011 3.11 A Sense of Home
2013 Snowpiercer
2014 Sea Fog
2017 Okja
2019 Parasite
2025 Mickey 17
???? Sounds from Heaven and Earth
???? The Host 2
???? Untitled Bong Joon-ho Animated Film
???? Untitled Lee Isaac Chung Project
Executive Producer:
2020 Snowpiercer
???? Parasite
Original Story:
2020 Snowpiercer
???? Parasite
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.