Actor Jang Dong-yoon steps behind camera with ‘The Yeast’

Actor Kim Seung-yun in a scene from "The Yeast" / Courtesy of Roadshow Plus

Actor Jang Dong-yoon is making his directorial debut with "The Yeast," a warmhearted coming-of-age story centered on a traditional Korean ingredient to offer audiences courage and comfort.

"It did not start from some grand ambition," Jang said after a premiere of the movie, Monday. "As I continued working as an actor, my desire to create grew naturally, and that led me here."

"The Yeast" follows Da-seul (Kim Seung-yun), an 18-year-old girl who loves makgeolli, a traditional Korean alcoholic beverage, and is the daughter of a local brewery family.

When she notices the taste of the makgeolli has changed one day, she sets out on a journey to find the missing yeast behind it. Jang wrote the screenplay and directed the film, which previously screened at the 29th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.

Jang, who starred as an actor in many series and movies such as Netflix's 2023 series "Daily Dose of Sunshine" previously tried his hand at directing with the 2023 short film "Please Be My Ear," but "The Yeast" marks his first feature.

The director said the idea of the movie came to him during the pandemic.

"I started thinking about a black comedy where makgeolli could cure disease," he said. "But as I kept working on it, I found myself wanting to focus more on people, and the story gradually became what it is now."

The director also revealed that more than 90 percent of the cast and crew were people he already knew. Actor Park Myung-hoon, whom he had worked with before, was in mind for the father role from the early stages of writing the screenplay.

Jang was candid about the weight of being a first-time feature director.

"Everyone on set looked to me for answers, and there were moments when I did not have them," he said. "I had to make decisions anyway, and that was not easy."

He described the yeast of the title as representing something universal. "It stands for the belief that everyone carries inside them," he said. "I wanted to tell a story where audiences walk away feeling a little braver and a little warmer."

Kim, who plays the lead role of Da-seul, praised Jang's directorial style as intuitive.

"His directions were very clear and detailed, things like 'breathe more' or 'relax your body,'" she said. "Because he is an actor himself, he knew exactly what he wanted and made it easy to follow. He was like a seasoned teacher."

“The Yeast” will be released in theaters on April 15.