[3] In 2009, O made his feature directorial debut with Nostalgia, which follows a pair of middle-aged amateur musicians who beg a once-promising rocker to be their mentor, as the latter deals with his mother's death.
This was followed by Pong Ddol (2010) about the humorous travails of a first-time filmmaker and whose title refers to the stone and metal objects attached to the end of a fishing rod, and Wind of Island (2011) about a young mother forced to abandon her only child.
[11] The NETPAC jury praised it "for focusing on a dramatic historical event in an understated way, with stunning B/W cinematography, depicting the pathos and the psyche of the victims as well as the aggressors.
"[12] Jiseul won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, the first Korean movie to win that prestigious award.
[21][22][23] O has started pre-production on his next film The Legend of a Mermaid, where a haenyeo (Jeju-based woman diver) meets a former national synchronized swimmer (played by Moon Hee-kyung and Jeon Hye-bin, respectively).