Skip to main content
Savon film image; young woman staring at a billboard with a smiling woman on it

Savon

Binu / 비누

Spotlight on Korea

This event has passed

World Premiere

From writer-director Lee Jun Sup comes a jet-black — or rather, blood-red — comedy-thriller about crime, consumerism, and the price people will pay to get ahead. After a close call with her sleazy new boyfriend, Jae-in (Jung Yi Ju) discovers a prominent soap company is offering a service to clean up more than just your average mess. Discreet, corporate-minded, and methodical, the outfit in question does a good job, allowing Jae-in to go back to her life as an aspiring actress. She’s haunted by lingering paranoia, however, and soon she remembers a loose end that needs attending to…

Lee is not one to waste time, and every second of his two-hour film counts. Opening with a warped take on TV commercials, the plot that follows is streamlined and suspenseful. The send-ups of corporate culture and the world of screen acting are darkly amusing, and visually Savon is a treat — sleek, polished, and finely composed. Lee has the smarts of a good satirist and the instincts of a born entertainer.

 

Oct 4 & 5: Q&A

 

Cooperating Organizations

                       

Media Partner

Vanchosun logo

Community Partner

           

Director
Cast

Jung Yi Ju, Kwak Minkyu, Park Jong-Hwan, Bang Jae-Min, Oh Gi-Gwang, Kim Do-Young

Credits
Country of Origin

South Korea

Year

2025

Language

In Korean with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
121 min
Action Cinemas of Asia Drama Spotlight on Korea

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Kim Ju-Hyoun, Lee Geun-Ho

Screenwriter

Lee Jun Sup

Cinematography

Hwang Gyeong-Hyeon

Editor

Jeong Ji-Eun

Production Design

Kim Hyun-Ji

Original Music

Shin Sung-Min

Lee Jun Sup headshot

Lee Jun Sup 이준섭

Lee Jun Sup, born 1989, is a South Korean filmmaker. He studied film in New York before returning to Seoul, where he has made several short films. Savon (2025) is his feature directorial debut.

Filmography: Before I Grow Up (2016)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Kindergarten

Dir. Jean-François Caissy
84 min

In this charming Quebecois documentary, we are invited to look closely at the interactions of children between the ages of 1 and 5, a period in which they are just beginning to learn about social interactions. And yet how much they resemble ourselves!

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

How to Divorce During the War

Dir. Andrius Blazevicius
108 min

Screenwriter Vytus is left reeling when on successive days his wife demands a divorce and Russia invades Ukraine. Blazevicius' masterful feature emerges as an engrossing satire about virtue signaling, nationalism, good intentions, and survival modes.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Chronovisor

Dir. Kevin Walker, Jack Auen
100 min

A device so sensitive it can pick up emanations from history, the Chronovisor caused a ripple in scientific circles in the latter half of the 20th century, although most dismissed it as a hoax. But why would anyone want to suppress a hoax?

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Filipiñana

Dir. Rafael Manuel
100 min

A luxury golf course in the Philippines is the microcosm for Rafel Manuel's vastly assured feature debut, a striking composed comedy which mixes languid surrealism with pointed political satire.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

A Sad and Beautiful World

Dir. Cyril Aris
110 min

This Lebanese love story chronicles the romance between a level-headed businesswoman and a romantic restauranteur across several decades in wartorn Beirut. It's funny, charming, melancholy and you'll feel it all.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Tokyo Taxi

Dir. Yoji Yamada
91 min

An overworked taxi driver takes 85-year-old Madame Sumire on a final journey through Tokyo, revisiting the places that shaped her life. Yoji Yamada’s 91st film is a moving, heartwarming love letter to Tokyo, nominated for nine Japanese Academy Awards.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema