The 23rd Director’s Cut Awards celebrated the best in Korean cinema and television on May 20, 2025. The event, organized by the Directors Guild of Korea (DGK), honored outstanding achievements in films and series released between January 2024 and March 2025. The occult horror film Exhuma led the winners with four awards, while the thriller series A Killer Paradox took three top honors.
Exhuma won Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Kim Go Eun), and Best New Actor (Lee Do Hyun). The film, directed by Jang Jae Hyun, became a box office hit with over 11.91 million viewers. It follows a geomancer, undertaker, and shaman dealing with supernatural events after relocating a cursed grave.
In the film acting categories, Lee Byung Hun won Best Actor for The Match, marking his second consecutive win after last year’s Concrete Utopia. Kim Geum Soon received Best New Actress for Star of Ulsan, while Nam Dong Hyub was named Best New Director for Handsome Guys.
The series category was dominated by A Killer Paradox, which won Best Director (Lee Chang Hee), Best Actor (Lee Hee Joon), and Best New Actor (Kim Yo Han). The Netflix thriller follows a man who discovers his accidental killings target criminals. Bae Doona won Best Actress for Family Matters, and Moon Geun Young took Best New Actress for Hellbound 2.
The awards are unique because winners are chosen exclusively by Korean directors. This year’s ceremony was held privately, attended by 150 industry professionals. Some nominations sparked debate, including Robert Pattinson for Mickey 17 and Yoo Ah In for The Match, but the DGK clarified that selections were based purely on artistic merit.
“It is only the result of a vote on all the films that all Korean directors have seen, and it does not include social evaluation,” the DGK stated in response to the controversy.
Other notable winners included Oh Jung Min, who received the Vision Award for House of the Seasons, an independent film honor. Exhuma’s success at the awards follows its global popularity, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. A Killer Paradox and Family Matters are available on Netflix.
The Director’s Cut Awards began in 1998 and have been managed by the DGK since 2017. This year’s event highlighted the strong creative vision of Korean filmmakers, with Exhuma and A Killer Paradox leading the way.
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