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A summer holiday that brings three generations together
South Korean filmmaker Yoon Dan-bi made her feature directorial debut with Moving On, a family drama that premiered domestically on Aug. 20, 2020, after attracting attention on the international festival circuit. The film follows teenage Ok-ju and her younger brother, Dong-ju, who spend their summer vacation at the home of their paternal grandfather after moving in with their father. Their grandfather lives alone in an aging two-story Korean house, but the arrival of the children and, later, their aunt gradually brings three generations of the family under one roof.
For Ok-ju, the summer becomes a formative period marked by affection, emotional wounds and difficult goodbyes. The story explores the changing relationships between family members through the everyday experience of sharing a home, rather than relying on dramatic twists.
Released in South Korea across 133 screens, the 104-minute film was produced by Onu Film and distributed by Green Narae Media. Choi Jung-un plays Ok-ju, while Park Seung-jun portrays Dong-ju. Yang Heung-ju plays their father, Park Hyun-young their aunt and Kim Sang-dong their grandfather.
From Busan to Rotterdam and New York
Moving On first screened at the 24th Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 6, 2019, where it won four awards: the Korean Film Directors' Guild Award, NETPAC Award, Citizen Critics' Award and KTH Award.
Its international breakthrough followed at the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2020, where it received the Bright Future Award, the festival's recognition for an outstanding feature debut. The Rotterdam jury described the film as a thoughtful portrait of relationships and emotions.
The film also won the New Vision Award, the top prize at the 2020 Muju Film Festival, and the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film at the New York Asian Film Festival. The Muju jury praised its treatment of time as a cinematic medium, while the New York festival jury highlighted its restraint and quiet emotional impact.
Yoon subsequently received best new director honors from both the Busan Film Critics Association and the Korean Association of Film Critics in 2020. In 2021, the film won Best Youth Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, representing South Korea. It was also nominated for three Blue Dragon Film Awards: best picture, best director and best screenplay.
An old Incheon home and a story rooted in personal experience
Although the characters and events are fictional, Yoon has said the film draws heavily on her own experiences. In an interview with Screen Daily, she said she completed the screenplay in about a month. The project was initially titled Moving, but she changed the name to Moving On to keep the focus on the two siblings.
She also chose summer rather than winter as the setting. Instead of emphasizing loneliness, she wanted to portray a season when family members could gather together, even in the heat.
The central house is a real two-story residence in Incheon, where an elderly couple had lived for more than 50 years. Yoon was drawn to its lived-in atmosphere and household objects dating from the 1970s. Filming took place in Incheon from late September to mid-October.
Funding came from Dankook University's Graduate School of Cinematic Content and Onu Film, with additional post-production support from the Busan International Film Festival's Asian Cinema Fund.
International screenings and critical reception
Beyond its awards, Moving On was selected for several international festivals, including the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the London Korean Film Festival, Toronto Reel Asian and the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. At the 2020 New York Asian Film Festival, which ran from Aug. 28 to Sept. 12, audiences could watch it through the Smart Cinema app. International sales were handled by M-Line Distribution, and the film became available for streaming on MUBI on Oct. 11, 2021.
International critics also responded positively. Rotten Tomatoes listed a 100% Tomatometer score based on five reviews. Deborah Ross of The Spectator praised the space the film gives its characters, while Jenny Kermode of Eye for Film awarded it 4.5 out of five stars, describing it as a beautifully observed portrait of a family in crisis. Theo Howe of EasternKicks gave it four stars, praising its mature depiction of loss within a family at a crossroads. Ashwani Kumar of High On Films also rated it four stars and called it an important coming-of-age film.
According to South Korea's Korean Film Council database, the film had recorded 24,379 admissions and 4,177,063 won in box-office revenue as of Nov. 7, 2026. Its initial box-office tally through Sept. 6, 2020, was 15,023 admissions.
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