MAIFF 2026  -

Retrospective of Ahn Sung-ki

The Dream

Online screening

Fiction

110

minutes

Content Warning:

About the Film

Director

Bae Chang-ho

Country

Korea

Year

1985

Program

Retrospective of Ahn Sung-ki

Curated by

MAFF Programming Team

Description

Synopsis | Raised in a Buddhist temple, the monk Jo-shin encounters Dal-rye, a dazzlingly beautiful noblewoman, and is shaken by an overwhelming desire he has never known before. But Dal-rye is promised in marriage to Mo-rye, Silla’s greatest hwarang, while Jo-shin himself is a monk forbidden from being close to women. After crossing a forbidden line, Jo-shin and Dal-rye abandon everything and flee together. In a distant place, they build a new life, accumulate wealth, and appear to have formed a stable family. Yet as time passes, love gives way to distrust and obsession, while the shadows of the past slowly tighten around them. Caught between desire and guilt, love and possessiveness, Jo-shin is forced to confront the true nature of the happiness he once dreamed of.

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About the Director
Bae Chang-ho
Director
After graduating from university and working in a corporate job, Bae Chang-ho began to give concrete shape to his long-held dream of filmmaking in the late 1970s. His early works were shaped by both artistic ambition and the realities of making films within the commercial and social constraints of the time. Rather than following a single, fixed style, his films moved across different tones and subjects. Yet beneath that variety was a consistent warmth toward people and the world around them. His cinema often looked at youth, love, social pressure, separation, desire, and the search for dignity with an affectionate and humane gaze. Through popular storytelling, he sought to restore trust in Korean cinema and reach audiences without losing sight of human vulnerability.
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Awards & Festival Recognition

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