Leesong Hee-il

Leesong Hee-il is a South Korean film director, born in 1971, and one of the most important queer auteurs in Korean cinema, widely recognized as openly gay and the creator of No Regret (2006), regarded as the first substantial Korean gay feature film and winner of Best Independent Film Director at the 2006 Director's Cut Awards. He emerged from Korea's independent film scene, making shorts throughout the late 1990s before becoming a central figure in LGBTQ+ filmmaking. In 2012 he released a trilogy of shorts -- Going South, Suddenly, Last Summer, and White Night (the last long enough to often screen as a standalone feature) -- and followed it with Night Flight (2014) and, after an eight-year gap, Swallow (2022), which premiered at Raindance and follows a man uncovering his mother's hidden past in the Korean student protests of the 1980s. Leesong has also been a gay rights activist, frequently speaking on social issues and pushing boundaries in a conservative media landscape. His films have screened at major festivals including Berlinale, Raindance, and Outfest, establishing him as a foundational figure in modern queer Asian cinema.