Norden, a White Boulder Rhinoceros raised among a herd of elephants, has lost every family member and friend he loved to human greed. Beside him lies an abandoned egg. Through the long, long night of despair and isolation, Norden never gives up on cradling this tiny egg. At last, baby penguin ‘I’ emerges into the world. A rhinoceros and a penguin: utterly different beings, with no way of knowing how each came to be in this world, yet what is certain is that, to each other, they are singular and irreplaceable sources of friendship, love, intimacy, and tenderness. Now the two of them will spend a long, long night searching for the sea where the penguin can live. Director Youm Kyubock’s debut feature Long Long Night is an outstanding animation that keenly recognizes the immense power and potential of its source material - a children’s novel that won the Munhakdongne Children’s Literature Award grand prize - and displays such assured emotional storytelling and extraordinary technical craftsmanship that it leaves a tight, tingling ache in the chest. It is simply astonishing that just accompanying Norden and ‘I’ on their long journey - humble yet grand, fragile yet brave, lively yet thoughtful - can bring such incomparable love and comfort. The vividly distinctive animals they encounter on their journey and the ever-changing face of nature that inspires both reverence and awe, resonates with profound emotional power. Faced with the precious questions posed by Long Long Night - ’not where or how we were born, but with whom and how we will live, and how we can journey alongside others while remaining fully ourselves’ - we cannot help but feel deeply and weep for a long time to come.
Youm Kyubock has directed commercials for global brands such as Samsung, BMW, and Canon, and has overseen character design and adversiting campaigns for various brands, including the Meritz Worry Doll Campaign (2011) and the National Credit Union Federation of Korea’s Eobuba (Lifelong Support) Campaign (2019). His work in television advertising earned him the Grand Prix at the Advertisement of the Year Awards and the Best Work Prize at the Seoul Creative Festival among others. In 2017, he made his debut as a children’s book author with a series of three books, googgoog, goronggorong, and haackhaack. Long Long Night is his feature directorial debut.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
