Lee Sangyong is a film director best known for his work on <The Roundup> series. A graduate of the Korea College of Media Arts, he first worked as an assistant director starting with <Swindler In My Mom’S House> (2007) and served in such capacity again on Lee Yoonki’s <My Dear Enemy> (2008). It was on another project by Lee Yoonki, <Come Rain, Come Shine> (2011), that he received his first opportunity to serve as first assistant director. He worked...More

Lee Sangyong is a film director best known for his work on <The Roundup> series. A graduate of the Korea College of Media Arts, he first worked as an assistant director starting with <Swindler In My Mom’S House> (2007) and served in such capacity again on Lee Yoonki’s <My Dear Enemy> (2008). It was on another project by Lee Yoonki, <Come Rain, Come Shine> (2011), that he received his first opportunity to serve as first assistant director. He worked again as first assistant director but this time with Lee Joonik on <Hope> (2013), and he followed this up with credits in <The Chronicles of Evil> (2015) and <A Single Rider> (2016). His collaboration with Director Kang Yunsung on <THE OUTLAWS> (2017) would turn to be a turning point in his career, as the commercial success of the film allowed Kang and his producers to follow through with their plans for a movie series. But since Kang had schedule conflicts, Lee was presented with a chance to take on directing duties for the follow-ups. The first of these titles, <The Roundup> came out in Spring 2022 and was celebrated as a return to form for the industry after the Covid-19 pandemic as it crossed the 10 million admission threshold, by far the biggest commercial success in Korea since 2019. Not only Lee can now boast to have drawn in 12.7 million viewers with his very first directing effort, but he also won the Audience Award for Best Asian Film at the Fantasia International Film Festival and the Sitges International Film Festival. And <The Roundup : No Way Out> (2023), his latest, accomplished the same feat the following year, outranking his competitors and on track to become the biggest commercial success of 2023. Less