The Dry Budget

What Is the Budget of The Dry (2022)?

The Dry (2022) is a South Korean short film about two boys, Yu-bin and Geon, whose dry-stream valley becomes their playground and refuge. As a short-format work produced for the Korean and international festival circuit rather than a theatrical feature, the film's specific production budget has not been disclosed by its producers, and no theatrical box office picture exists. Short films of this scale in the Korean independent ecosystem typically operate in the 5,000,000 to 30,000,000 Korean won range, equivalent to roughly $4,000 to $25,000 in 2022 exchange-rate terms, covering a one-to-three-day shoot, a small crew, and modest post-production.

Production financing for short films of this profile in Korea typically blends a Korean Film Council (KOFIC) short-film production grant, regional Korean film-school support if the director is enrolled at the Korean Academy of Film Arts or one of the major university film programs, in-kind equipment-house support, and small private contributions. There is no commercial theatrical recoupment expectation for the work; the return is in festival selection, critical visibility, and the writer-director's next-step calling card.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The Dry's production cost follows the standard Korean short-film distribution structure:

• Cast: Two principal teenage performers as Yu-bin and Geon, cast from the Korean teen acting pool, working at standard Korean short-film rates.
• Single Outdoor Location: The film's primary dramatic setting is a dry valley and stream, requiring location scouting, regional production basing, and weather-window management.
• Camera and Lighting: A small professional camera and lighting package suitable for a contained outdoor shoot, typically rented through one of Seoul's established short-film equipment houses.
• Sound and Post-Production: A single boom operator on the day, with editorial, sound design, and color grading completed in Seoul-based post houses at favorable short-film rates.
• Music: Original or library music sourced through a Korean composer or music supervisor.
• Festival Submissions and Travel: The back-end cost of the film is its festival submission fees, DCP creation, and the director's travel to attend selected festivals.

How Does The Dry's Budget Compare to Similar Korean Short Films?

Short films in the 5,000,000 to 30,000,000 Korean won range form the bulk of the Korean Academy of Film Arts and KOFIC-supported festival pipeline. Comparable productions illustrate the range:

• A Brand New Life (2009): Korean independent feature budget approximately $1,500,000. Ounie Lecomte's adoption drama demonstrates a Korean coming-of-age full-feature scale that compares to The Dry's thematic concerns at roughly 60 to 100 times the budget.
• House of Hummingbird (2018): Korean independent feature budget approximately $1,000,000. Kim Bora's acclaimed coming-of-age feature, set in 1994 Seoul, demonstrates a related thematic peer at feature-film scale.
• Bleak Night (2010): Korean independent feature budget approximately $200,000. Yoon Sung-hyun's school-set indie drama operated at the lower bound of Korean independent feature and offers the closest narrative-scale comparison to The Dry.
• Standard Korean short film: Budget approximately $4,000 to $25,000. The Dry sits within this typical festival-circuit short-film range.

The Dry Box Office Performance

As a short film, The Dry did not have a theatrical box office release. Short films of this profile generate revenue, when at all, through festival prize money, broadcast or streaming licensing fees, and educational distribution to Korean and international film schools and curated shorts platforms:

• Production Budget: not publicly disclosed (estimated $4,000 to $25,000 range based on comparable Korean short films)
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): not applicable, short-film festival distribution
• Total Estimated Investment: not publicly disclosed
• Worldwide Theatrical Gross: not applicable, no theatrical release
• Festival and Licensing Revenue: not publicly disclosed
• ROI: not measurable in commercial terms; value is in career impact

For Korean short films, success is measured by festival selections at programs like the Busan International Short Film Festival, Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival short program, and selected international festivals (Clermont-Ferrand, Berlinale Generation, Locarno Pardi di domani, Sundance Short Film Program) rather than theatrical recoupment.

The Dry Production History

The Dry was produced in 2022 within the Korean short-film ecosystem, which includes support from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) production grants, Korean Academy of Film Arts production allowances, regional Korean film commissions, and in-kind equipment-house support. Detailed production history including specific shooting dates, locations, director, writer, and cast attribution has not been comprehensively documented in publicly available English-language trade press at the time of this writing.

Korean short films at this profile typically operate as career-launch projects for emerging Korean writer-directors, with festival selection and subsequent feature-film financing pursuits as the primary creative and commercial trajectory.

Awards and Recognition

Specific festival awards and recognition for The Dry (2022) have not been comprehensively documented in publicly available English-language trade press. Korean short films of this profile typically compete at the Busan International Short Film Festival, Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival short program, and the Korean Academy of Film Arts annual showcase, with selected international festival placements offering additional visibility.

Critical Reception

Public critical aggregator scores for The Dry (2022) have not been compiled, reflecting the film's short-format and limited international visibility threshold. Critical reception for Korean short films at this profile is typically captured through Korean film-press coverage (Cine21 short-film reviews, festival jury statements, and Korean Academy of Film Arts internal evaluation), none of which has been comprehensively cataloged in publicly available English-language sources.

Korean short films in the friendship-and-summer coming-of-age lineage operate within an established critical tradition that includes Kim Bora's House of Hummingbird (2018), Yoon Sung-hyun's Bleak Night (2010), and the broader Korean Academy of Film Arts festival short-film output that has launched directors including Kim Bora, Yoon Sung-hyun, and the Burning (2018) writer-director Lee Chang-dong's early protégés.