[Sportschosun reporter An So-yoon] Director Lee Yong-jae shared his thoughts on making his commercial film directing debut with ‘The CSAT: The Secret of Setting the Questions.’
At a press-and-distributor screening of ‘The CSAT: The Secret of Setting the Questions’ held on the 19th at CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, director Lee Yong-jae said, “Meeting the audience at the Busan International <a href="https://cinemamix360.com/2026/10/19/warsaw-film-festival-turns-spotlight-on-first-time-directors/" title="Warsaw film festival turns spotlight on first-time directors”>Film Festival (BIFF) gave me courage,” adding, “Until now, it’s been warm-up, and I think the real game is still ahead.”
Opening on the 28th, ‘The CSAT: The Secret of Setting the Questions’ is a mission comedy about Maeng Bo-ram, a Korean-language teacher from a small provincial city who unexpectedly joins the question-setting headquarters sealed for 40 days to prepare the CSAT questions, a Level 2 national secret in South Korea. Maeng Bo-ram struggles through one mishap after another trying to create “problem-free questions” with no typos or grounds for dispute. The film is director Lee Yong-jae’s commercial film directing debut.
Ahead of its release, ‘The CSAT: The Secret of Setting the Questions’ was officially invited to the Korean Cinema Today – Panorama section of the 31st Busan International Film Festival. Director Lee said, “Having the film premiere at BIFF and seeing the audience respond along with it gave me courage. I think the people who came to the festival may have interpreted the film more favorably. To quote a line from the film you saw today, until now it’s been warm-up, and now I think the real game is starting.” He shared his nervousness.
He went on to explain why he made a film about the CSAT: “The CSAT is something the whole country is interested in, so I thought that approaching audiences with this story could give them something to be interested in. Whatever subject we choose in our society, I think a cross-section of it would reveal a variety of aspects. Secondly, telling a story in a limited space has the advantage of saving a new director time and money. When I wrote the screenplay for ‘In Our Prime,’ I did math, and this time I did Korean. People around me said that if I made English the subject of my next film, I’d complete a Korean, English and math trilogy.”
Reporter An So-yoon antahn22@sportschosun.com
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