A fine arts major, Jung Byung-gil trained as a stuntman at the Seoul Action School before studying filmmaking at Chungang University. In 2008, NYAFF presented the international premiere of his debut feature, Action Boys, a riveting documentary about his fellow students at the school and how they fared in the industry after graduation. His first narrative feature, Confession of Murder (2012, NYAFF 2013), was a high-concept thriller about a pretty boy serial killer who resurfaces after the statute of limitations expires to taunt the grizzled cop that failed to catch him. (It was recently remade in Japan by Yu Irie as Memories of a Murderer.) After a five year gap, Jung returns to NYAFF with his dynamic female revenge actioner The Villainess (2017), fresh from its premiere at Cannes. 63 of the film's 70 shooting days were spent on action and stunts, with Jung pitting actress Kim Ok-vin (Dasepo Naughty Girls, Thirst) against at least two - and often more than a dozen – assailants in the film’s plethora of violent fight scenes. "I always like doing the opposite of what people tell me to do," says Jung. "Put it this way: People say an action film led by an actress won’t work, but maybe that simply means no one has tried it. I thought this was the right time to go for it myself." Jung will receive the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema for his liberating reinvention of the contemporary action movie.