Gianna Jun (Jun Ji-hyun) is one of Korea’s most acclaimed actresses, renowned for her exceptional career spanning film, television, and global brand partnerships. She rose to international prominence through the landmark romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), one of the most influential Korean films of its generation. Since then, she has continued to demonstrate remarkable versatility through a wide range of acclaimed works, including The Thieves (2012), Assassination (2015), Kingdom: Ashin of the North (2021), My Love from the Star (2013–2014), The Legend of the Blue Sea (2016–2017), and Jirisan (2021). Throughout her career, Gianna has received numerous prestigious honors, including multiple Grand Prize (Daesang) awards, and has established herself as one of the leading figures of Korean entertainment both domestically and internationally. In 2026, she stars in Colony, directed by Yeon Sang-ho. Her continued influence across film, television, fashion, and culture has made her one of Korea’s most recognizable and respected artists.

Yeon Sang-ho emerged from independent animation with The King of Pigs (2011), an unflinching portrait of school violence, class cruelty, and the wounds Korean society teaches its children to carry. He crossed into live action with Train to Busan (2016), the Cannes Midnight Screenings sensation that helped turn the Korean zombie film into a global phenomenon. Since then, he has moved restlessly across scale and format, from the animated Seoul Station to Peninsula, Jung_E, Revelations, The Ugly, and now Colony. Arriving at NYAFF as a North American premiere after its Cannes Midnight Screenings world premiere, Colony returns Yeon to the same Cannes section that launched Train to Busan ten years earlier. Yeon opens NYAFF’s 25th edition in person on July 10 and appears through opening weekend, which also features the 10th-anniversary 4K restoration of Train to Busan.