After ‘Lost,’ Kim Yun-jin makes Korean homecoming at Pusan Film Festival

‘Lost’ actress Kim Yun-jin makes Korean homecoming

BUSAN, South Korea — “Lost” actress Kim Yun-jin is making a homecoming of sorts this week at South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival.

The 36-year-old Korean-American actress recently completed her six-year stint on the hit American TV series, which aired its finale in May. She is now plunging back into the Asian movie industry where she first made her name.

At Pusan, Asia’s leading film festival, she is serving as a juror for the event’s New Currents prize for emerging Asian filmmakers.

“American audiences have very little knowledge of Asian film in general. … Hopefully international film festivals such as Pusan will change that in the future,” Kim told a news conference on Friday, appearing with her fellow jurors.

Kim, who was born in Seoul but moved to the U.S. at age 10, shot to fame in her native land by playing an undercover North Korean spy in the hit 1999 thriller “Shiri.”

She kept working on South Korean productions while juggling her “Lost” duties. “It was always a pleasure coming back and working on a Korean movie,” she said.

Her most recent Korean release came in January with the drama “Harmony,” about four female prisoners who bond over a choir group.

Looking back at “Lost,” the convoluted, time-jumping tale of a group of plane crash survivors facing mysterious phenomena, Kim called the experience “life-changing.”

“It was a new type of drama,” she said. “In my humble opinion, when there is a discussion about U.S. television shows in the 21st century, ‘Lost’ will be one of them, so I’m really proud to be part of that TV show.”

_____

Online:

www.piff.org