Choi Jong-ryong is a film director and screenwriter. His feature debut The Melody of Suyeon (Waterdrop) tells the story of children left alone in the world who struggle to protect themselves, and it drew attention by winning two awards at the 2023 Busan International Film Festival. Originally a literature major in creative writing, he spent years writing poetry before discovering filmmaking through an independent film collective. With his short film Journey (2019), he received production support and began his professional career. He later completed his first feature through extensive rehearsals and on-site work with child actors, in collaboration with cinematographer Kang Jong-su, capturing a sense of realism. His films challenge and invert the roles of parent and child, protector and protected, to ask what family truly means. At the heart of his work lies a desire for audiences to act as guardians for children on screen, while shining light on the unseen realities of those left in society’s blind spots. He is currently writing new feature scripts that expand his exploration of family stories, this time delving into the adult world through drama and thriller.

Based in Jeju, she focuses on fireflies as her main subject, capturing the nights of Gotjawal and the island’s forests. Her work conveys the ecology of nature and the life of light. In her exhibitions, she collaborates with local communities and practices responsible presentation. Each year she photographs during the short firefly season, and in the off-season she studies Jeju’s landscapes and habitats. Through her images, she seeks to offer comfort and hope by showing beings that shine on their own in the dark. She is now preparing her 2026 solo exhibition, Breath of Light, Awakening the Forest, with the goal of building a lasting archive of Jeju’s natural heritage.

Pianist Moon Hyojin and bandoneon player Rim Sinai are the musicians leading the ensemble “Mulbit” together. Moon Hyojin is a composer and performer who captures Jeju’s landscapes and history through music, presenting projects that embody the voices of haenyeo and messages of peace. With the Jeju Youth Chorus, she performed the “Peace Requiem” on international stages, and this September she has been invited to the cultural festival in Osnabrück, Germany’s city of peace, where she will present lectures, performances, and an exhibition. Rim Sinai pursues sounds that move the heart through the deep resonance of the bandoneon, expanding beyond tango to collaborations with traditional instruments such as the geomungo. Together, they reinterpret Jeju’s traditional sounds in contemporary ways and share them with the world, creating melodies that merge light and water, just as their name suggests. Their music carries Jeju’s stories while remaining an artistic experiment of respect, harmony, and creative expansion.