Jang Jae-hyun

In this Korean name, the family name is Jang.

Jang Jae-hyun (Korean: 장재현; born 1981) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He gained recognition through the blockbuster films The Priests (2015), Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019), and Exhuma (2024).

Jang Jae-hyun
Born	1981 (age 43–44) South Korea
Alma mater	Sungkyunkwan University Korea National University of Arts
Occupation(s)	Film director Screenwriter
Korean name
Hangul	장재현
RR	Jang Jaehyeon
MR	Chang Chaehyŏn

Education

After graduating from Sungkyunkwan University's Department of Film, he graduated from the Department of Film at Korea National University of Arts.^[1]

Career

Jang served as an assistant director on the blockbuster period drama Masquerade (2012) before breaking out with the short 12th Assistant Deacon (2014) which won Best Film in The Extreme Nightmare section at the 13th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, and Best Director Award (Korean Competition For Shorts) at the 15th Jeonju International Film Festival in 2014. Based on the award-winning short, he made his first feature film The Priests (2015) - a supernatural mystery thriller, which was a hit with more than 5.4 million admissions. Jang said "I got a weird feeling when I saw a priest waiting anxiously for someone on the other side of a fast food restaurant window. The Priests started then."^[1][2][3][4]

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Credited as		Notes	Ref.
		Director	Writer
2011	Themselves	Assistant director	No		[5]
	S.I.U.	Assistant director	No		[6]
2012	Masquerade	Assistant director	No	Also actor	[7]
2015	The Priests	Yes	Yes		[8]
2017	House of the Disappeared	No	Yes		[9]
2019	Svaha: The Sixth Finger	Yes	Yes		[10]
2024	Exhuma	Yes	Yes		[11][12]
2025	Big Deal	No	No	As actor

Short films

Year	Title	Credited as		Notes	Ref.
		Director	Writer
2009	Maley from India	Yes	Yes	Also actor	[13]
2010	Bus	Yes	Yes		[14]
2014	12th Assistant Deacon	Yes	Yes		[15]

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Nominee(s) / work(s)	Result	Ref.
Baeksang Arts Awards	2024	Best Film	Exhuma	Nominated	[16][17]
		Best Director – Film		Won
		Best Screenplay – Film		Nominated
16th Director's Cut Awards	2016	Best New Director	The Priests	Won	[18]
15th Jeonju International Film Festival	2014	Best Director Award	12th Assistant Deacon	Won