{ "id": "epjka5fjsc", "slug": "lucky-chan-sil", "title": "Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": 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year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지) is Kim Cho-hee's 2019 South Korean indie debut about a jobless film producer, ghost of Leslie Cheung, starring Kang Mal-geum and Youn Yuh-jung, a triple BIFF 2019 award winner.", "snippet": "Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지) is Kim Cho-hee's 2019 South Korean indie debut about a jobless film producer, ghost of Leslie Cheung, starring Kang Mal-geum and Youn Yuh-jung, a triple BIFF 2019 award winner.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2020-to-2022", "markdown": "# Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지)\n\n**Lucky Chan-sil** (찬실이는 복도 많지) is a 2019 South Korean drama-romance-fantasy film and the feature directorial debut of Kim Cho-hee (김초희), about a film producer in her forties who loses her job when the director she has worked with for years dies suddenly.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) • [2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/) It premiered in the Korean Cinema Today – Vision section of the 24th Busan International Film Festival on October 8, 2019, where it won three prizes, and opened in South Korean theaters on March 5, 2020.[3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) • [4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/view/news.jsp?category=NEWS&seq=5251)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Kim Cho-hee (김초희), her first feature after a career as a producer and several short films[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) • [5](https://asianmoviepulse.com/2021/03/film-review-lucky-chan-sil-2019-by-kim-cho-hee-3/) |\n| Premiere and release | Busan International Film Festival, October 8, 2019; South Korean theatrical release March 5, 2020; re-release November 26, 2020[3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) |\n| Lead cast | Kang Mal-geum (Lee Chan-sil), Youn Yuh-jung (the landlady), Kim Young-min (Jang Gook-young), Yoon Seung-ah (Sophie), Bae Yoo-ram (Kim Young)[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) |\n| Genre and length | Drama, romance, and fantasy; 95 minutes per the Korean Film Council (some listings give 96)[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) • [3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) |\n| BIFF 2019 awards | CGV Arthouse Award, KBS Independent Film Award, and Directors Guild of Korea Award[4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/view/news.jsp?category=NEWS&seq=5251) |\n| Budget | 200 million won (about $177,000); Youn Yuh-jung worked without pay to support the first-time director[6](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/films/20210523/lucky-chan-sil-director-wins-top-prize-at-8th-wildflower-film-awards) |\n| Box office | 30,438 admissions and $187,505 gross in South Korea (Korean Film Council figures)[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nChan-sil (Lee Chan-sil), a film producer, loses her job overnight when the director she has collaborated with for many years dies suddenly. Out of prospects, she moves into a cheap room in a shoddy hillside neighborhood, where her elderly landlady ([Youn Yuh-jung](https://www.edgepedia.org/youn-yuh-jung)) seems somehow off, and the house is occasionally visited by a ghost.[7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQ-c6zu5QI) • [3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) The ghost says that in life he was a famous Hong Kong actor, and his dress makes his identity immediately recognizable; reviewers identify the character, played by Kim Young-min, with [Leslie Cheung](https://www.edgepedia.org/leslie-cheung).[7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQ-c6zu5QI) • [2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/)\n\nTo make a living, Chan-sil takes work as a housekeeper at the home of her friend, the actress Sophie (Yoon Seung-ah), and there she meets Sophie's French tutor, Kim Young (Bae Yoo-ram), an aspiring filmmaker in his thirties, and begins a tentative flirtation with him.[7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQ-c6zu5QI) • [2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/) • [16](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LKFF20-Brochure.pdf) The ghost becomes something of an adviser on her love life. In one emblematic exchange, Chan-sil names Yasujiro Ozu as her favorite filmmaker and Kim Young, Sophie's French tutor, answers that he loves [Christopher Nolan](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-nolan), drawing her deadpan reply, \"Oh, you're one of those...\"[2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/) • [16](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LKFF20-Brochure.pdf) The film keeps a light, comic register while Chan-sil works through grief, unemployment, and the question of what she actually wants from her life.[8](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1005833361)\n\n## Background and production\n\n**A debut long delayed.** Kim Cho-hee had worked as a producer, including on films by the director [Hong Sang-soo](https://www.edgepedia.org/hong-sang-soo), before moving into directing; her earlier shorts include *The Winter Pianist* (2012), *Our Sooni* (2013), and *Ladies of the Forest* (2017).[2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/) • [9](https://siff.kr/en/films/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94-%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84-%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80/) In an interview she said she dreamed of becoming a film director at 23 and debuted at 46, and that the protagonist's name combines the characters for \"to shine\" (찬) and \"fruit\" (실), meaning shining fruit.[10](https://v.daum.net/v/20200301112015833) Critics noted the film's meta quality: a story about a film producer, made by a former producer, in which the heroine's setback mirrors the director's own career.[2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/) • [11](https://www.highonfilms.com/lucky-chan-sil-2020-nyaff-review/)\n\nThe production was small. The budget was 200 million won (about $177,000), and Youn Yuh-jung, already an Academy Award-winning actress by the time the film's awards run ended, worked without pay to support the first-time filmmaker, as Kim acknowledged in her Wildflower Film Awards acceptance speech.[6](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/films/20210523/lucky-chan-sil-director-wins-top-prize-at-8th-wildflower-film-awards) Ji Sang-bin shot the film, with music by Jeong Jung-yeop and editing by Son Yeon-ji; production companies were ZIIP Production and Yoons.[9](https://siff.kr/en/films/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94-%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84-%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80/) • [3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80)\n\n## Release\n\nAfter its Busan premiere in October 2019, the film screened in competition at the 15th Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 9 and 14, 2020.[3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) Its theatrical run began on March 5, 2020, and a re-release followed on November 26, 2020.[3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted its international festival circuit: its North American premiere, scheduled for April 16 and 18, 2020 at the 63rd San Francisco International Film Festival, was canceled when the festival was called off, and the Udine Far East Film Festival, which had invited it to competition, was postponed from late April to late June.[3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80) The film later reached North American audiences through the 2020 New York Asian Film Festival and digital release.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) • [11](https://www.highonfilms.com/lucky-chan-sil-2020-nyaff-review/) It was also imported to Japan under the title チャンシルさんには福が多いね, an unusual outcome for a Korean independent film without prior buzz there.[12](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94%20%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84%20%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\n**Festival prizes.** At the 24th Busan International Film Festival the film won three awards: the CGV Arthouse Award, the KBS Independent Film Award, and the Directors Guild of Korea Award, sharing the last with Yoon Dan-bi's *Moving On*.[4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/view/news.jsp?category=NEWS&seq=5251) • [13](https://www.biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2019_report_eng.pdf) The KBS Independent Film jury cited the film as based on the director's own experience and a journey of self-reflection, and the Directors Guild jury praised its \"adorable characters, ingenious cinematic imagination, refined humor and warm feelings.\"[13](https://www.biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2019_report_eng.pdf) It also won the Audience Award for features at the 2019 Seoul Independent Film Festival.[9](https://siff.kr/en/films/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94-%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84-%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80/)\n\n**Recognition for Kang Mal-geum.** The film made a debut lead of Kang Mal-geum, an actress who had worked in theater and office jobs before turning to acting in her thirties.[14](https://v.daum.net/v/j8BKopv2EQ) Her performance as Chan-sil won Best New Actress at the 2020 Baeksang Arts Awards, the 2020 Buil Film Awards, the 2021 Blue Dragon Film Awards, the Busan Film Critics Association Awards (Best Actress), the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, and the Wildflower Film Awards, among others.[6](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/films/20210523/lucky-chan-sil-director-wins-top-prize-at-8th-wildflower-film-awards) • [15](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4521746/awards/) Kim Cho-hee took the Grand Prize at the 8th Wildflower Film Awards in 2021, a program established in 2014 to recognize Korean independent and low-budget films.[6](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/films/20210523/lucky-chan-sil-director-wins-top-prize-at-8th-wildflower-film-awards) The film was also named one of the Korean Film Critics Association's Top 10 Films of 2020 and later competed at the 2020 Udine Far East Film Festival and Osaka Asian Film Festival.[15](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4521746/awards/) • [1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751)\n\nReviewers described the film as a \"coming-of-middle-age\" story disguised as a romantic comedy, anchored by Kang's performance and by Youn Yuh-jung's landlady, whose life philosophy shifts as readily as the seasons.[2](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/) • [11](https://www.highonfilms.com/lucky-chan-sil-2020-nyaff-review/) In South Korea it drew 30,438 admissions on 241 screens, a modest total typical of independent releases but enough, together with the awards, to sustain a re-release later the same year.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751) • [3](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Lucky Chan-sil (2020), Korean Film Council (KOFIC)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20192751)\n2. [Lucky Chan-sil review, Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film](https://chlotrudis.org/review/lucky-chan-sil/)\n3. [찬실이는 복도 많지, onul wiki](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94_%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84_%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80)\n4. [MOVING ON and LUCKY CHAN-SIL Mop Up Korean Film Prizes in Busan, Korean Film Council](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/view/news.jsp?category=NEWS&seq=5251)\n5. [Film Review: Lucky Chan-sil (2019) by Kim Cho-hee, Asian Movie Pulse](https://asianmoviepulse.com/2021/03/film-review-lucky-chan-sil-2019-by-kim-cho-hee-3/)\n6. ['Lucky Chan-sil' director wins top prize at 8th Wildflower Film Awards, The Korea Times](https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/films/20210523/lucky-chan-sil-director-wins-top-prize-at-8th-wildflower-film-awards)\n7. [BIFF2019 찬실이는 복도 많지 LUCKY CHAN-SIL Official Interview, Busan International Film Festival (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQ-c6zu5QI)\n8. [책영사 '우리 윤희들은 복도 많지', SBS News](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1005833361)\n9. [LUCKY CHAN-SIL, Seoul Independent Film Festival](https://siff.kr/en/films/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94-%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84-%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80/)\n10. ['찬실이는 복도 많지' 김초희 감독 인터뷰, Daum / News1](https://v.daum.net/v/20200301112015833)\n11. [Lucky Chan-sil (2020) Review, High on Films](https://www.highonfilms.com/lucky-chan-sil-2020-nyaff-review/)\n12. [찬실이는 복도 많지, Namu wiki](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EC%B0%AC%EC%8B%A4%EC%9D%B4%EB%8A%94%20%EB%B3%B5%EB%8F%84%20%EB%A7%8E%EC%A7%80)\n13. [2019 Busan International Film Festival Report (awards jury citations)](https://www.biff.kr/kor/img/cont/2019_report_eng.pdf)\n14. [강말금 인터뷰, Daum / News1](https://v.daum.net/v/j8BKopv2EQ)\n15. [Kang Mal-geum awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4521746/awards/)\n16. [koreanfilm.co.uk](https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/LKFF20-Brochure.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2020 to 2022*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지)](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Lucky Chan-sil (찬실이는 복도 많지)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lucky-chan-sil. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Lucky Chan-sil is Kim Cho-hee's 2019 South Korean indie debut about a jobless film producer, ghost of Leslie Cheung, starring Kang Mal-geum and Youn Yuh-jung, a triple BIFF 2019 award winner." }