Beauty Water

The tyranny of the modern beauty ideal becomes a dark fable about plastic surgery and the lengths we go to in desperation to become part of the beautiful elite. One part The Twilight Zone and two parts early David Cronenberg, Beauty Water is classic body horror with a “careful what you wish for” storyline.

Ye-Ji is an overweight make-up artist who dreams of being conventionally beautiful. She comes over a mysterious water that promises everything she wants, but it soon takes a dark turn when it suddenly isn’t enough.

Animation for adults is not too common in Western countries. Luckily there are places where animation is used for all kinds of films and Beauty Water is definitely not for kids. Here you will find distorted bodies, nudity, violence, gore, and a deeply cynical worldview regarding beauty and what the beauty ideal does to society.

Beauty Water has been screened at some of the most prestigious international genre film festivals, like Fantasia Film Festival and Sitges Fantastic Film Festival, and it was the first Korean animation feature to win an award at the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival.

Alexander Svanåsbakken

Director

Cho Kyung-hun (b. 1975) is a South Korean director, and Beauty Water is his feature film debut. He was introduced to animation through his membership in a comics appreciation society, and it quickly became a passion. In 2000 he started an animation studio with Goo Bong-hee, Studio Animal. They have produced many short films, shows and webtoons, and contributed to the popular Korean MMO, Maple Story.