Yun Baek Nam was a South Korean director. He has often been called the Father of Korean Cinema despite evidence pointing to the fact that the release of his first known film, The Vow Made Below The Moon, was preceded by Kim Do-san’s first true movie, The Border, by three months.

The earliest confirmed film made by Yoon therefore remains The Vow Made Below The Moon which, with Mori assistance, was allowed by the authorities to be screened. In 1925, he directed two more films, this time for the Fusan (now Busan) Chosun Kinema. These were The Story of Woon Yeong, a tragedy about a lady of the King’s court who falls in love with a poet, and an action movie called The Hero of a Small Village. Yoon also established the Yoon Baeknam Production Company and funded director Kim Kyeong Son’s The Story of Shim Cheong that same year.

He directed his last film in 1930 called Justice Wins and later that same year he wrote the screenplay of The Challenge which was directed by Kim So Bong. However, in 1933, as the oppression of the Korean people grew, Yoon Baek Nam left Korea to live in Manchuria where he remained until Korean independence was achieved.

(Source: Koreanfilm.org) Edit Biography