A blistering critique of organized religion set in a rural village where a manipulative church minister schemes to defraud his flock, The Fake is Yeon's sophomore feature after the acclaimed and divisive The King of Pigs (2011).

[7][8] With their municipality scheduled to be flooded to make way for the construction of a new dam, the devout denizens of a rural village have placed their faith in Choi Gyeong-seok, a church elder who promises to relocate the flock.

Behind his guise of devotion, however, Choi is a practiced con man posing as a representative of a fake religion; his true aim is to defraud the villagers of their resettlement compensation.

The only obstacle to the scheme is Kim Min-chul, a skeptical outcast who accidentally discovers evidence of Choi's past misdeeds and suddenly finds himself becoming the center of resistance against the church institution.

[9] The film also had a one-week theatrical run from November 15–20, 2013 at the CGV Cinema in Koreatown, Los Angeles, in order to qualify for submission to the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.