FEEL IT.STREAM
?

Lee Sang-cheol

Directing

Biography

Lee Sang-cheol (b. 1975, Seoul) is a South Korean filmmaker recognized for his sharp social observation and versatility across genres. He graduated from the Department of Theater and Film at Hanyang University in 2001 and completed the directing program at the prestigious Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in 2003. Lee built a solid foundation in visual storytelling by working in the directing department for stylistic master Lee Myung-se on Duelist (2005) and serving as assistant director for M (2007). He also gained production experience as the producer of the horror film Two Moons (2012). He made a powerful impact on the independent film scene with Jesus Hospital (2012), co-directed with Shin A-ga. This intense family drama won the Citizen Critics’ Award at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and the Grand Prize at the Seoul Independent Film Festival, drawing international praise for its realistic portrayal of religious and familial conflict. Lee continued to expand his filmography with the social satire The Snobs (2019), invited to the Panorama section of BIFF, and the action-crime film Two Big Men (2020). In his latest work, Blesser (2023), Lee presents a profound shift in his directorial gaze. Premiering at the 28th Busan International Film Festival, the film captures the arduous yet transformative journey of a mother raising a child with developmental disabilities. Praised for its sincere narrative and detailed direction, Blesser demonstrates Lee Sang-cheol’s evolution into a storyteller who deeply resonates with the fragility and resilience of the human spirit.

Known For

Blesser
6.5

Sang-yeon is a confident and talented political reporter who must achieve everything as planned. After a long wait, she gives birth to twins, but when her second child is diagnosed with a developmental disability, her life changes completely.

Blesser

2024
Two Big Men
5.5

A gangster-like detective and an ex-convict who met like fate will work together to launch a "super-legal" business that hunts criminals with bounty. Bad guys falling like autumn leaves in front of two men! Cider-like action is pouring down on this stuffy world!

Two Big Men

2020
If You Were Me 6
5.5

In this omnibus film series produced by the National Human Rights Commission, Park Jungbum explores relating to the handicapped, Lee Sangcheol and Shin Aga turn their camera on the elderly and Min Youngkeun looks at conscientious objection to military service. In Dear Duhan, Duhan suffers from brain lesions. His friend has always felt bad for Duhan but nonetheless steals an iPad from him one day. Director Park explores the conflict and friendship between a so-called normal and a handicapped person. In Bong-gu on Delivery Shin and Lee tell the tale of an old man who helps a child find his way home, only to be accused of kidnapping. And Min talks about a Jehovah’s Witness who has just been drafted and must say goodbye to his mother in Ice River, a melodrama about a man who chooses to go to prison for his conscientious and religious objections to bearing arms. Having divorced her husband in order not to send her son to prison, his mother cannot accept her son’s choice.

If You Were Me 6

2013
The Song of Resurrection
7.5

Cheol-gi who dreams of a society that embraces justice begins classes at a night school. There he learns about political and social contradictions and the realities the people face. While doing research on factory conditions with his classmates Tae-il, Min-sook and laborers Hyun-sil and Bong-joon, Cheol-gi learns about the Revitalizing Reforms system and the improper practices in emergency measures. After the military revolution, during the election for a general student body in a move towards democracy, Cheol-gi unwittingly becomes a man on the run when emergency martial law is implemented in response by the government. Cheol-gi blames himself when hears about the deaths of Tae-il and Min-sook during the Gwang-ju Uprising from Hyun-sil and Bong-joon. Just when he and Hyun-sil try to start a new life together, Cheol-gi is arrested and put in jail. Inside the prison, he starts another move towards prison democracy.

The Song of Resurrection

1991
The Snob
6.0

Seonwoo Jung is an artist who claims “borrowing” rather than plagiarism when an old friend who’s been abroad re-enters, and agitates, her life: a secret meeting with a curator and her old friend suggests she seduce her partner.

The Snob

2019
Jesus Hospital
6.0

A tough milk delivery woman, Hyun-soon has a secret that she doesn' t want to reveal to others. Her unconscious old mother in a hospital and her pregnant daughter in her 20' s only know Hyun-soon’s secret. When her sister and brother are against to their mother' s life prolongation, Hyun-soon says weird things. As the family has noticed about her secret, they think that Hyun-soon is into a heretic. They plan to leave Hyun-soon out in the cold.

Jesus Hospital

2012
No image
N/A

Night falls over Jemulpo, 1911. Young Park Doo-sung bids farewell to his mentor Lee Dong-hwi, who leaves for exile to join the independence movement. Unable to board the ship, Doo-sung is haunted by guilt for staying behind. Before departing, Lee urges him not to fight with weapons, but to “fight in his own way.” Years later, Doo-sung becomes a teacher at the blind department of Jesaengwon, only to discover that its true purpose is not education but to train the visually impaired as masseurs for the colonial system.

Korean Braille

The Bozy
N/A

Head of a radical anarchist group that fights against dictatorship, and breaks into a base for the purpose of destroying the main facilities of the government and meets Mi-joo, once a colleague and lover of the same group.

The Bozy

2003