Han Ji-won

Biography

Han Ji-won (born 1989) is a South Korean animation director, illustrator, and filmmaker known for her emotionally resonant and visually poetic animated works. She studied at the Korean National University of Arts, where her short film Kopi Luwak (2010) won the Grand Prize at the Seoul Independent Animation Film Festival. Han has directed several acclaimed short films and animation projects, including Recipe to My Daughter and The Sea on the Day When the Magic Returns, earning recognition at international festivals. In 2025, she gained wider global attention with her animated feature Lost in Starlight, released on Netflix. Her work is noted for blending intimate human emotions with lyrical, hand-drawn animation, contributing significantly to the global visibility of Korean animation.