Director Kim Bo-sol’s animated feature "The Square" has won the top prize at the 51st Seoul Independent Film Festival (SIFF).
"The Square" follows Bori, a government clerk forced to leave the country; Bok-ju, who must give up their future together; and Myeong-jun, an interpreter who silently watches the pair from the sidelines.
After screenings on Nov. 30, Dec. 2 and Dec. 4, the film clinched SIFF’s Grand Prize from the Main Competition jury of former Busan International Film Festival senior programmer Nam Dong-chul, director Lee Eon-hie and actor Jeon Yeo-been, who praised the team’s perseverance through a long production, saying it allowed audiences to finally experience “this luminous, life-affirming film.”
Nearly six years in the making, the feature has been building momentum on the global circuit, earning invitations and awards at major stops including the Far East Film Festival (Udine) and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival―culminating in SIFF’s top honor.
International critics have already taken notice, calling it “an intimate human drama about the yearning to connect and quiet courage” (New Straits Times), “an animated work of uneasy beauty” (Sitges Film Festival), “a film that will stay precious if it lights even a small spark in someone’s heart” (The Austin Chronicle), and “a superb animated feature, every frame imbued with loneliness and aching emotion” (24th Tribeca Festival). The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival jury hailed it as “an animation that boldly extends our imagination of the unreachable and delivers the deep resonance of melodrama.”
"The Square" opens Jan. 15, 2026, across South Korea at Megabox locations and select arthouse theaters.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)