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K-ARTS AT Lab’s ‘Tropic’ Wins Best Cinematography at 30th Fantasia International Film Festival

  • 2026.07.27


 

K-ARTS AT Lab's 'Tropic' Wins Best Cinematography at 

30th Fantasia International Film Festival


  -  Directed by Park Jung-yun; captures deep psychological trauma through cutting-edge Virtual Production.

  -  Jointly produced with VA Corporation as the grand winner of the 1st Virtual Production Contest.




The short film Tropic, produced by the Art & Technology Lab (AT Lab) in the Convergence Arts Center at the Korea National University of Arts (K-ARTS, President Pyun Jang-wan), has won the Best Cinematography Award in the International Short Film Competition at the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival (Fantasia).


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Poster of the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival


Held annually in Montreal, Canada, Fantasia celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Widely recognized as one of North America’s premier film festivals, it stands alongside the Sitges Film Festival and Fantastic Fest as one of the world's top three genre film festivals celebrating fresh and original cinema.


Tropic was selected as the final winning project of the 1st Virtual Production Contest, co-hosted in 2023 by K-ARTS AT Lab and VA Corporation. The film follows Sun, a young woman haunted by nightmares of her sister’s tragic suicide. While attempting to wash her sister's Hawaiian shirt, the boundaries between reality and memory blur, trapping her in a dreamlike realm where she confronts her deepest trauma through the apparition of a monster.


Director Park Jung-yun (Department of Multimedia, School of Visual Arts) actively utilized Virtual Production technology to translate abstract fear and internal trauma into stunning, dreamlike visuals.


"I am deeply honored to receive such a meaningful award at Fantasia," said Director Park. "I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire crew who helped bring this vision to life, as well as to AT Lab and VA Corporation for their generous production support. Experiencing the warm response from the festival audience made this moment even more special, and I will continue working hard to share better stories in the future."



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<Tropic> Steel Cut
 

Professor Seung-moo Lee, Director of AT Lab and faculty in the Department of Film, added: 


"This achievement is especially meaningful because it demonstrates the synergy between an industry partner needing R&D, student creativity, and AT Lab's specialized research and production capabilities."


■ K-ARTS AT Lab: Driving Global Tech-Art Innovation


K-ARTS AT Lab is a leading creative research institute at the forefront of convergent arts, utilizing immersive media such as Virtual Production, Virtual Reality (VR), and Immersive Theatre.

The Lab has consistently proven its global caliber with acclaimed works like Scarecrow and Rain Fruits being selected for and winning awards at top international festivals, including Sundance, Cannes, and Tribeca. Following the invitation of 8 PM and the Cat to the Venice International Film Festival in 2025, AT Lab once again reaffirmed its world-class creative capability rooted in convergent arts education.

Currently, AT Lab leads R&D in AI-driven storytelling and global industrialization under the "Global Culture Technology (CT) Talent Development Project," supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA).


[Project Overview]

 ○ Title: Tropic

 ○ Director: Park Jung-yun

 ○ Category: International Short Film

 ○ Award: Best Cinematography (30th Fantasia International Film Festival)

 ○ Production Support: K-ARTS AT Lab, VA Corporation

 ○ Key Technology: Virtual Production (LED Wall & Real-time Rendering)

 ○ Synopsis: 
    Tropic is told through the eyes of Sun, a young woman in her early 20s, who becomes a suicide survivor after witnessing the tragic death of her elder sister, Seowoo. 
    Seowoo had always longed for Hawaii, and the Hawaiian shirt she wore in her final moments remains a traumatic emblem for Sun.
    Unable to throw the shirt away, Sun brings it to a laundromat in a desperate bid to wash away both her resentment toward her sister and her overwhelming guilt. 
    However, her suppresse remorse manifests into a horrific, towering palm-tree monster. Like the sun endlessly cycling along the tropics, Sun becomes trapped in a repeating nightmare, 
    agonizingly fighting to save her sister over and over again.