Film archive, 2026

The Flower

화곡사

Director KIM Si-jin

1Festival entries

★Avg. rating

Mr. Lee, the director of a crematorium, has spent his entire life working there, seeing the dead off on their final journey. Now, sensing that his own time to depart has come, he returns to the crematorium where he worked for so long, only to find no one particularly glad to see him. In the midst of all this, Lee himself suddenly dies. Astonishingly, no matter how they try to cremate his body, it simply will not burn. The Flower, director Kim Si-jin’s debut feature, is a solemn drama about the raw, ugly sides of people laid bare in the face of death, bitter quarrels and vicious infighting, and unresolved memories of the past. In particular, Lee’s aching longing for his beloved, whom he hopes to meet again even if only as a spirit, deepens the film’s emotional intensity. Above all, the painstaking craftsmanship of the stop-motion animation is remarkable. The animation is all the more endearing for the way it conveys the same diligence and steadfastness embodied by Mr. Lee himself.

Stills5

Film details

Director: KIM Si-jin
Country/Region: Korea
Year: 2026
Length: 71min
Original language: Korean
Elsewhere: Letterboxd TMDB Douban

Director

KIM Si-jin

Kim Si-jin was born in Seoul in 1985. In 2013, he graduated in the 28th cohort of animation majors from theKorean Academy of Film Arts. He directed the short films Giant Room (2012) and Regression (2016). The Flower is his first feature film.

From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31

Credits

Director: KIM Si-jin
Assistant director: Eun-ji KWON
Producer: KIM Si-jin
Cast: Ji-il PARK, Min-young AN, Do-ha BEOM, Hee-moon Yang, Jin-woong LIM
Screenplay: KIM Si-jin
Cinematography: KIM Si-jin
Visual effects: Sung-hwan KIM
Production company: Korean Academy of Film Arts

Festival appearances1

Choose a festival entry to see its screenings, articles and audience reviews.

The FlowerBusan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31Vision: Korea

Festival history1

釜山国际电影节, 2026Vision: Korea, Official selectionDGK PLUS M Award