The Birth of Promising New Director Kwon Yong-jae! 'High Sugar Content' Premieres at the Seoul Independent Film Festival 2025!

The most well-ripened feature debut of the year, 〈High Sugar Content〉 (The Price of Goodbye), which combines suspense and black comedy with the meaning of family, is set to be released on December 10, and the notable new director Kwon Yong-jae's background has been revealed.

The family tragicomedy 〈High Sugar Content〉 depicts a family’s fake funeral business to fund a nephew’s medical school tuition with the father’s funeral money. 〈High Sugar Content〉 is a deep exploration of the ‘family’ that no one can choose, intertwined by blood, combined with immersive suspense and black comedy. Director Kwon Yong-jae, who wrote and directed the film, has gained attention at various domestic and international film festivals with short films such as 〈Goodbye! Good Mommy〉, 〈Condolences〉, and 〈Sweet Deal〉, and 〈High Sugar Content〉 is set to have its world premiere in the Festival Choice section of the Seoul Independent Film Festival 2025, which opens on November 27.

In particular, 〈High Sugar Content〉 features the talented actor Kang Mal-geum, who has been active across films and TV, including the movie 〈Lobby〉, 〈Chansili is Not Lucky〉 and the Netflix series [Socks Are Deceptive], and MBC drama [Red Sleeve Cuff]. The irreplaceable actor Bong Tae-kyu, who has enhanced dramatic immersion in various genres with his unique performances in SBS dramas [Penthouse], [Return], and the movie 〈Mina's Stationery Store〉, plays the role of a bitterly realistic sibling. Along with them, veteran actor Jang Ri-woo, who has been active in numerous independent films, the promising new actor Jeong Soon-beom, and the uniquely present Yang Mal-bok actor come together to complete a high-density family chemistry. Director Kwon Yong-jae, who harmoniously orchestrated this, is gaining attention as the most accomplished feature debut director of the year, capturing ‘fun’, ‘meaning’, and ‘chemistry’ with his smooth script and solid direction that traverse comedy and tragedy.

Director Kwon Yong-jae, who announced his feature film debut with 〈High Sugar Content〉, is a talented newcomer who has directed numerous short films after passing through the Department of Film Studies at Sungkyunkwan University and the Graduate School of Film at the Korea National University of Arts. His short films 〈Goodbye! Good Mommy〉 and 〈Sweet Deal〉 have been invited to and awarded at various domestic and international film festivals, gaining early recognition. 〈Goodbye! Good Mommy〉 is a work that subverts the power of patriarchal daily life with the ingenious setting of a ‘mother who cannot open the refrigerator door’, while 〈Sweet Deal〉 is a comedy that depicts the vain expectations and desires of child actors meeting a film company representative in a delightful yet bittersweet manner. Director Kwon Yong-jae's feature debut 〈High Sugar Content〉 is a work produced through the Industry-Academic Cooperation Planning and Development Support Program of the Korea National University of Arts and the Independent Feature Production Support of the Korean Film Council, achieving the success of a debut before graduation after being selected while he was still a student. The sweetly bittersweet family tragicomedy 〈High Sugar Content〉 captures the realistic aspects of a family enduring the weight of care, support, and debt, and the smooth direction and the passionate performances of the actors have come together to create a highly concentrated family tragicomedy. 〈High Sugar Content〉 will be released in theaters nationwide on December 10.