Hur Jin-ho was born on August 8, 1963, in Jeonju, South Korea. After graduating from Yonsei University with a degree in Philosophy, he graduated from the Korean Academy of Film Arts, making the short film For Go-chui (1993) as his final essay. In the same year he began his apprenticeship, working with director Park Kwang-su first as his assistant on the film To the Starry Island and then as a co-writer on A Single Spark (1995).
Hur Jin-ho would have to wait a few more years before he could make his first feature film, Christmas in August (1998). The film, which was presented in the Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival, was an immediate success and allowed Hur to carve out its own visibility both in the East and in Europe. In fact, the director has won many awards for Christmas in August: Special Mention for the Dragons and Tigers Award at the Vancouver International Film Fest, FIPRESCI Special Mention Award at the Flanders International Film Festival and at the Pusan International Film Festival. The film was immediately counted among the best Korean films of the nineties, so much so that it was screened in 2000 at the International Film Festival Mannheim Heidelberg and in 2001 at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective on Korean cinema. In 2001 Hur Jin-ho made his second film, One Fine Spring Day, which confirmed him as one of the most original emerging directors of Asian cinema. In 2003-2004 he took part in the collective project Twentidentity, making two digital short films: Alone Together and My New Boyfriend. In 2005 Hur Jin-ho returned to the limelight with his third feature film, April Snow, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was later screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Flandres International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. The film was an extraordinary success, both in Korea and abroad (especially in Japan), thanks also to the presence in the cast of the lead actor and star Bae Yong-jun. Although critics did not appreciate Hur's collaboration with Bae, April Snow remains the Korean director's most famous film to this day. In 2007 he made Happiness, which was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2009 he shot the medium-length film I'm Right Here, one of the episodes that make up the collective film Five Senses of Eros, before the release of his fifth feature film, A Good Rain Knows.
Despite being one of the greatest Korean directors today, none of his films have ever been distributed in Italy.
