No. 41 · Short Film
The Summer of Jihyun
지현이의 여름
Directed by Hyeyoung Kim
South Korea · 19 min
Is this what never seeing again feels like?
Streams 21 September 2026 to 28 September 2026, Berlin time. Every ticket is one Audience Award vote.
About the film
Could this be what it feels like to never see someone precious again?
Ten-year-old Jihyun is not yet able to grasp the sudden death of her grandmother, Bok-ja. Yet she is deeply upset by the loss of her beloved hairpin, the one her grandmother always put in her hair. Jihyun leaves the funeral home and runs all over the neighborhood, searching for the missing hairpin. But she finds no sign of it. Instead, she finds traces of Bok-ja everywhere—in the neighborhood that remembers Jihyun and her grandmother, and throughout the home filled with memories of her. As the summer night passes, Jihyun keeps searching, no longer knowing whether she is looking for the hairpin or for her grandmother.
- Runtime
- 19 min
- Category
- Short Film
- Country
- Republic of Korea
- Year
- 2025
- Language
- Korean
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39:1
Stills
Hyeyoung Kim
HYEYOUNG KIM was born in Busan, South Korea. She began making films through a community film course and continues to work with the team she met there as a member of CANNETAPIAFILM. Now based in Seoul, she works on commercial film productions to make a living, then spends what she earns making her own films. Her latest short, On Ganghwa Island, is currently in post-production. She is drawn to themes of death and loss, and hopes to make films that leave audiences thinking of and missing someone they once knew.
— Director’s statement
Loss and death always feel like the first time, like a child. At first, it doesn’t feel real. Then suddenly, you miss them, and tears fall. Only later do you understand, little by little.
Credits
- Directed by
- Hyeyoung Kim
- Written by
- Hyeyoung Kim
- Produced by
- Gyeongmo Nam
- Production company
- Cannetapiafilm
- Cinematography
- Seongyun An
- Editing
- Hyeyoung Kim
- Sound
- Juseok Lee
- Principal cast
- Jihyun Lee - Jihyun / Bokja Ahn - Bokja(Grandma) / Sunhee Bae - Sunhee(Mom) / Byeol Kim - Jiho(Dad)
- Also
- Production Sound - Jaeyun Yook / Gaffer - Chanho Park / Script Supervisor - Namyeong Lee / 1st AD - Jeongbin Kim / Grip - Duhyeon Park / Still Photographer - Taegu Jang
— Festivals and awards
2026 Gyeongju international film festival - Apec award
The Summer of Jihyun is part of the Official Selection of the BIUFF Founding Edition 2026.