The Island tells us a story, including how the story takes shape and turns into a movie. The rehearsal is put in the film, showing that the moment the actors prepare to get their bodies and emotions to craft a story can be a film's theme and a structure to form emotions. Damien Manivel, throughout his former projects, including Isadora's Children (2019, JEONJU Cinema Project film that earned him Best Director Award for the International Competition section in Locarno International Film) and Magdala (2022), proved that preexisting conventions of filmmaking can never constrain his art world. This time, he uses narrative and formal elements to display robust concentration while a piece of writing transforms into a single narrative film. The Island is a film that can also be an essay on cinema. (Sung MOON)