Jeongyeon, a twenty-six-year-old aspiring novelist, tries to write her first novel, but struggles to make progress. It’s a story about an alien who comes to Earth in search of absolute, true love - and the reason she’s so thoroughly stuck is that she blames herself for not knowing what love is. Meanwhile, her old classmate Najeong, a painter, is having no such trouble preparing for her solo exhibition. Earbug, Kim Hyo-mi’s debut feature, showcases her fierce and idiosyncratic imagination in a spirited animation where feelings of failure and inferiority, jealousy and anxiety, self-doubt and a sense of grievance erupt with explosive force, propelling Jeongyeon toward a moment of inner transformation, metamorphosis, and liberation. The film’s music and sound - including Maurice Ravel’s Boléro - tease and unsettle Jeongyeon, connecting her to uncomfortable truths she has long turned away from, moments she would rather avoid, and an anxious world, ultimately becoming a catalyst for change. It is a distinctive fantasy brimming with unrestrained energy.
Kim Hyomi was born in Seoul in 1990. She studied animation at Sangmyung University and the Korean Academy of Film Arts. Her short film Tarantuner (2022) was screened in the Korean Competition section at the Busan International Short Film Festival and the Beautiful Hapcheon Independent Film Festival. Earbug is her first feature film.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
