Director Heo Beom-uk. [Indistory]
Director Heo Beom-uk. [Indistory]

Heo Beom-uk, the director of the animated film "Pig That Came Back Alive from Foot-and-Mouth Disease," has died just over a week before the film's scheduled opening.

According to the Korean Independent Film Association and distributor Indistory, Heo was hospitalized in an intensive care unit last week following a fire and died Tuesday morning. He was 43.

His feature-length animation was set to open Aug. 5.

Produced in 2024, the film follows a pig that survived a culling and a young man who wishes to become a beast. It earned an invitation to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France — the world's largest animation festival — and went on to receive a jury special mention at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and the best feature animation award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival, the first time the prize had gone to an animated feature.

A preview scheduled for Friday had been canceled due to the director's circumstances.

Heo had dreamed of becoming a poet and novelist in his youth. He discovered animation after stumbling upon a special screening of short films by the National Film Board of Canada at the Seoul Animation Center, and went on to study the art form at the Korean Academy of Film Arts, among other institutions.

He first gained recognition in 2014 when his debut feature animation "Pale Faces" won the grand prize in the feature category at the 30th Holland Animation Film Festival.

The funeral is being held at Room 3 of the special wing at Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital in Seoul. The funeral procession departs Thursday at 8 a.m., and the burial will take place at Seoul Memorial Park.


paq@heraldcorp.com