In the wake of a scandal involving several of her students, Jeonim (Kim Minhee), an artist and lecturer at a women's university, asks her uncle Chu Sieon (Kwon Haehyo) to step in and direct a short play for the skit festival put on by her department. Her uncle is an actor-director, recently blacklisted after a scandal of his own. He decides to direct the short play because of a similar experience directing a play at the same university 40 years earlier. It doesn't take long before Sieon develops feelings for Jeonim's colleague, Professor Jeong (Cho Yunhee), a textile professor. Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding the scandal grow more complicated, the moon waxes in the sky each night, and every morning Jeonim goes to the stream and sketches to grasp its patterns.

By the Stream thrums gently with the wisdom of artists who, subject to the battery of public opinion, have stayed committed to their craft. It’s a film of slightly drunken, ultimately dignified humility. -Zachary Barnes, Wall St. Journal

The latest from the prolific South Korean film-maker Hong Sang-soo may feel familiar to fans of the director’s lo-fi work... It remains an effective formula: By the Stream is a wry comedy of manners that muses, in its unassuming way, on the creative act. -Wendy Ide, Observer UK

Distinguished from other Hongs like it by its light autumnal chill and accompanying russet palette, this subtle comedy of actors, academics and dreams set to one side welcomes the director’s steadfast fans like a gentle but hesitant embrace. -Guy Lodge, Variety