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| occupation = [[Film director]], [[Screenwriter]], [[Film producer|Producer]], [[Film editing|Editor]] |
| occupation = [[Film director]], [[Screenwriter]], [[Film producer|Producer]], [[Film editing|Editor]] |
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| yearsactive = [[1955 in film|1955]] |
| yearsactive = [[1955 in film|1955]]-[[1990 in film|1990]] |
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| influences = [[Fritz Lang]], [[Josef von Sternberg]]<ref name="AMG-bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:384885~T1|title=Kim Ki-young: Biography|accessdate=2008-01-25|last=Vick|first=Tom|publisher=[[All Movie Guide]]|language=English}}</ref> |
| influences = [[Fritz Lang]], [[Josef von Sternberg]]<ref name="AMG-bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:384885~T1|title=Kim Ki-young: Biography|accessdate=2008-01-25|last=Vick|first=Tom|publisher=[[All Movie Guide]]|language=English}}</ref> |
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| influenced = [[Park Kwang-su]], [[Lee Chang-ho]], [[Bong Joon-ho]], [[Park Chan-wook]], [[Im Sang-soo]], [[Kim Ki-duk]], etc.<ref name="French Cinematheque">{{cite web |title=A Korean master: Kim Ki-Young retrospective at the French 'Cinematheque'|url=http://www.koreasociety.org/film_blog/news/a_korean_master_kim_ki-young_retrospective_at_the_french_cinematheque.html|accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[http://www.koreasociety.org/ koreasociety.org]|language=English}}</ref><ref name="Inuhiko Yomota">{{cite web |url=http://www.tiff-jp.net/report/daily_en.php?itemid=535|date=[[December 7]], [[2007]]|accessdate=2008-02-03|title=Inuhiko Yomota talks about Kim Ki-young, the Korean giant "Goryeojang" talk show|publisher=[http://www.tiff-jp.net/ tiff-jp.net]|language=English}}</ref><ref name="Going Global">{{cite web |first=Chris|last=Berry|url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/LYKINT.htm|title=Going Global: An Interview with Lee Yong-kwan|accessdate=2008-01-21|last=Kim|first=Sung-Eun|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031209012310/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/LYKINT.htm|archivedate=2003-12-09}}</ref> |
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| awards = Best Director, [[Blue Dragon Awards]] (1971)<br>Best Director, Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards (1973)<br>Best Director, [[Baeksang Art Awards]] (1973) |
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{{Infobox Korean name |
{{Infobox Korean name |
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'''Kim Ki-young''' ([[10 October]], [[1919]] - [[February 5]], [[1998]]) was a Korean film director, known for his intensely psychosexual and melodramatic horror films, often focusing on the psychology of negatively-stereotyped female characters.<ref name="kmdb">{{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/actor/mm_basic.asp?person_id=00004686&div=2 |title=김기영 (Kim Ki-young)|accessdate=2008-01-29|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=Korean}}</ref> His best known film is ''[[The Housemaid]]'', made in 1960, which features a powerful [[femme fatale]] and is widely considered to be one of the best Korean films of all time.<ref>{{cite web |first=Darcy|last=Paquet|url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm60s.html#|title=The Housemaid (1960)|accessdate=2008-01-25|publisher=[http://www.koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref> |
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'''Kim Ki-young''' ([[10 October]], [[1919]] - [[February 5]], [[1998]]) was a Korean film director, known for his intensely psychosexual and melodramatic horror films, often focusing on the psychology of their female characters.<ref name="kmdb">{{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/actor/mm_basic.asp?person_id=00004686&div=2 |title=김기영 (Kim Ki-young)|accessdate=2008-01-29|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=Korean}}</ref> Kim was born in [[Seoul]] during the [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese occupation]], raised in [[Pyongyang]] and spent some time in [[Japan]], where he became interested in theater and cinema. In Korea after the end of [[World War II]], he studied dentistry while becoming involved in the theater. During the [[Korean War]], he made propaganda films for the United States Information Service, and he used discarded American equipment to produce his first two films in [[1955 in film|1955]]. With the success of these two films, and financial support from his wife, Kim formed his own production company and produced films in the popular melodrama genre for the rest of the decade. |
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Kim Ki-young's mature style first fully expressed itself in his best known film, ''[[The Housemaid]]'' ([[1960 in film|1960]]), which features a powerful ''[[femme fatale]]'' and is widely considered to be one of the best Korean films of all time.<ref name="koreanfilm-housemaid">{{cite web |first=Darcy|last=Paquet|url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm60s.html#|title=The Housemaid (1960)|accessdate=2008-01-25|publisher=[http://www.koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref> After a "Golden Age" during the 1960s, the 1970s were a low-point in the history of Korean cinema because of governmental censorship and a decrease in audience attendance. Nevertheless, working independently, Kim produced some of his most unique and eccentric cinematic creations in this era. Films such as ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' ([[1972 in film|1972]]) and ''[[Iodo (film)|Iodo]]'' ([[1977 in film|1977]]) successful at the time, were highly influential on the younger generations of [[South Korea]]n filmmakers both at their time of release, and with their rediscovery years later. By the 1980s, Kim's popularity had gone into decline, and his output decreased in the second half of the decade. Neglected by the mainstream during much of the 1990s, Kim became a cult figure in South Korean film Internet forums in the early 1990s. Widespread interest in his work later in the decade culminated in a career retrospective at the 1997 [[Pusan International Film Festival]] which brought Kim to the attention of the international film community. Kim's films previously little-known or totally unknown outside of South Korea were shown and gained enthusiastic new audiences in Japan, the [[United States]], [[Germany]], [[France]] and elsewhere. He was preparing a come-back film when he and his wife were killed in a house fire in 1998. The [[Berlin International Film Festival]] gave Kim a posthumous retrospective in 1998, and the French Cinémathèque screened 18 of Kim's films, some newly rediscovered and restored, in 2006. Through the efforts of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), previously lost films by Kim Ki-young continue to be rediscovered and restored. His influence on the current generation of filmmakers in South Korea remains strong. |
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==Life and career== |
==Life and career== |
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===Early life=== |
===Early life=== |
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Kim Ki-young was born in the Gyo-dong neighborhood of [[Seoul]] on [[October 10]], [[1919]], the only son of an elementary school teacher with two daughters. Kim's family was well-educated and artistically-inclined. His two sisters studied art and dance, and encouraged the young Kim to develop his own creativity. The family moved to [[Pyongyang]] when Kim was still young. At Pyongyang National High School, Kim showed exceptional talent in music, painting and writing, and his studious nature earned him the nickname "Professor of Physics". While still a student, one of Kim's poems was published in a Japanese newspaper, and he was awarded first prize in a painting competition.<ref name="Meet Mr. Monster">{{cite web |first=Chuck|last=Stephens|url=http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020802151752/http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate= |
Kim Ki-young was born in the Gyo-dong neighborhood of [[Seoul]] on [[October 10]], [[1919]], the only son of an elementary school teacher with two daughters. Kim's family was well-educated and artistically-inclined. His two sisters studied art and dance, and encouraged the young Kim to develop his own creativity. The family moved to [[Pyongyang]] when Kim was still young. At Pyongyang National High School, Kim showed exceptional talent in music, painting and writing, and his studious nature earned him the nickname "Professor of Physics". While still a student, one of Kim's poems was published in a Japanese newspaper, and he was awarded first prize in a painting competition.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="kmdb"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster">{{cite web |first=Chuck|last=Stephens|url=http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020802151752/http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate=2008-01-19|archivedate=2002-08-02|title=Meet Mr. Monster: A peek inside the cine-crypt of Kim Ki-young|publisher=[[San Francisco Bay Guardian]]|language=English}}</ref> |
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Despite his strong artistic talents, Kim's main interest was medicine, and he applied for entrance into medical school in 1940. When he failed to gain admittance, Kim moved to [[Kyoto]], [[Japan]], where he worked as a cook, planning to study and save up money to re-apply for medical school. It was in Kyoto that the theater and cinema grew into lifetime interests. He attended many stage productions and saw Japanese and international films. [[Josef von Sternberg]]'s ''[[Morocco (1930 film)|Morocco]]'' ([[1930 in film|1930]]) and [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' ([[1931 in film|1931]]), made a particularly strong impression on him and their influence was to show in his mature film style.<ref name=" |
Despite his strong artistic talents, Kim's main interest was medicine, and he applied for entrance into medical school in 1940. When he failed to gain admittance, Kim moved to [[Kyoto]], [[Japan]], where he worked as a cook, planning to study and save up money to re-apply for medical school. It was in Kyoto that the theater and cinema grew into lifetime interests. He attended many stage productions and saw Japanese and international films. [[Josef von Sternberg]]'s ''[[Morocco (1930 film)|Morocco]]'' ([[1930 in film|1930]]) and [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' ([[1931 in film|1931]]), made a particularly strong impression on him and their influence was to show in his mature film style.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/> |
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Kim returned to Korea in 1941, planning to work as a dentist, but instead immersed himself in the study of drama. At this time was particularly interested in [[Theatre of ancient Greece|classical Greek theater]], [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]] and [[Eugene O'Neill]]. In order to avoid conscription into the military, Kim returned to Japan briefly in 1945. Upon his return to Korea in 1946, he enrolled in Seoul Medical School, [[Seoul National University]], and graduated with a major in [[dentistry]] in 1950. While attending university, his theatrical activities continued. He studied [[Constantin Stanislavski|Stanislavsky]]'s [[Stanislavski's 'system'|theories of acting]] and founded a theatrical group called "The Little Orchid" which became the National University Theater. With this organization Kim staged many works of the Western theater, including Ibsen's ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'', [[Karel Čapek|Čapek]]’s ''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)|Robots]]'', [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', and works by [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]] and O'Neill. |
Kim returned to Korea in 1941, planning to work as a dentist, but instead immersed himself in the study of drama. At this time was particularly interested in [[Theatre of ancient Greece|classical Greek theater]], [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]] and [[Eugene O'Neill]]. In order to avoid conscription into the military, Kim returned to Japan briefly in 1945. Upon his return to Korea in 1946, he enrolled in Seoul Medical School, [[Seoul National University]], and graduated with a major in [[dentistry]] in 1950. While attending university, his theatrical activities continued. He studied [[Constantin Stanislavski|Stanislavsky]]'s [[Stanislavski's 'system'|theories of acting]] and founded a theatrical group called "The Little Orchid" which became the National University Theater. With this organization Kim staged many works of the Western theater, including Ibsen's ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'', [[Karel Čapek|Čapek]]’s ''[[R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)|Robots]]'', [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', and works by [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]] and O'Neill. The main actress Kim worked with while at the university was Kim Yu-bong, who would later become his wife.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Lee|first=Young-il|title=The History of Korean Cinema|year=1988|publisher=Motion Picture Promotion Corporation|location=[[Seoul]]|language=English|isbn=8-9880-9512-X|pages=p.319}}</ref><ref name="Melodrama-Realism-Expressionism">{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/LYI.htm|title=From Melodrama to Realism to Expressionism: The Early Career of Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2008-01-21|last=Kim|first=Sung-Eun|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040505053647/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/LYI.htm|archivedate=2004-05-05}}</ref> |
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===Early film career=== |
===Early film career=== |
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Kim |
Kim was working as an intern at Seoul University Medical Clinic when the [[Korean War]] broke out. He went to [[Pusan]] on [[June 1]], [[1951]], the day the [[North Korea]]n army retreated. In Pusan, Kim met [[Oh Young-jin]], a fellow Pyongyang National High School graduate. Oh, who would later write the screenplay to the popular film ''The Wedding Day'' ([[1956 in film|1956]])), was producing filmreels for the Korean News through the Bureau of Public Information, and helped Kim get a job writing screenplays with this organization. With Oh's help, Kim was able to get a job working for the [[United States Information Service]] in [[Chinhae]]. This job helped shape Kim's life in several ways. With the increase in pay he received from the U.S.I.S., he was able to marry Kim Yu-bong in 1951. The two remained married for the rest of their lives. Kim Yu-bong supported Kim Ki-young's film-making career through her dental practice, giving him a unique degree of independence among Korean filmmakers of his era to pursue his own personal visions. At a career retrospective during the last year of his life, Kim commented, "My wife's support has been unflagging over the years, even if, at times, she has seen one of my films and cried 'What have you done with my money?' But at rare moments like this retrospective, she becomes very emotional, recognizing that finally it has all been worthwhile."<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/><ref name="Melodrama-Realism-Expressionism"/> |
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The training and equipment Kim gained while working on these propaganda newsreels for the U.S.I.S. also enabled him to direct his first commercial film, ''[[Box of Death]]'' ([[1955 in film|1955]]). Kim used expired film stock and a manually-operated news camera from the U.S.I.S. to make this debut feature, an anti-communist melodrama about war orphans. The film, now lost, showed stylistic influences from the [[Italian neorealism|Italian neo-realists]] and was the first Korean film to employ synchronous sound.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/md_basic.asp?nation=K&p_dataid=00276|title=The Box of Death (Jugeom-ui sangja)(1955)|accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=English}}</ref |
Kim filmed about twenty documentaries for the U.S.I.S. with such titles as ''Diary of the Navy'' and ''I Am a Truck'' for "Liberty News". The latter title was given an award by the U.S. State Department. The training and equipment Kim gained while working on these propaganda newsreels for the U.S.I.S. also enabled him to direct his first commercial film, ''[[Box of Death]]'' ([[1955 in film|1955]]). Kim used expired film stock and a manually-operated news camera from the U.S.I.S. to make this debut feature, an anti-communist melodrama about war orphans. The film, now lost, showed stylistic influences from the [[Italian neorealism|Italian neo-realists]] and was the first Korean film to employ synchronous sound.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/md_basic.asp?nation=K&p_dataid=00276|title=The Box of Death (Jugeom-ui sangja)(1955)|accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=English}}</ref><ref name="Sunlit Path">{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Window/LYK.htm|title=The Sunlit Path: Another Side of Kim Ki-young and Mapping the Korean Cinema of the 1950's|accessdate=2008-01-28|last=Lee|first=Yong-Kwan|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040505193105/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Window/LYK.htm|archivedate=2004-05-05}}</ref> |
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With the success of this first film, Kim was able to direct his second feature, the historical costume-drama ''[[Yangsan Province (film)|Yangsan Province]]'' (also 1955), again using primitive equipment obtained from the U.S.I.S. Though Kim claimed to have based the film on a traditional song he learned from his mother, no exact source for the story has been found. It is suspected that the director made up the story himself, modeling it on traditional stories such as ''[[Chunhyangga|Chunhyangjeon]]'', Lee Kyu-hwan's re-make of which had recently become a major success, stimulating a rebirth in Korean cinema. After Lee's ''Chunhyangjeon'', ''Yangsan Province'' was the second most successful Korean of 1955. As his only surviving film of the 1950s, ''Yangsan Province'' sheds considerable light on Kim Ki-young's early career. Korean critics in the 1950s assumed that Kim was a proponent of the realist school popular in local cinema at the time. Consequently, the now-lost ending to ''Yangsan Province'', in which two dead lovers ascend to heaven on a beam of light, was criticized for being an unrealistic break in |
With the success of this first film, Kim was able to direct his second feature, the historical costume-drama ''[[Yangsan Province (film)|Yangsan Province]]'' (also 1955), again using primitive equipment obtained from the U.S.I.S. Though Kim claimed to have based the film on a traditional song he learned from his mother, no exact source for the story has been found. It is suspected that the director made up the story himself, modeling it on traditional stories such as ''[[Chunhyangga|Chunhyangjeon]]'', Lee Kyu-hwan's re-make of which had recently become a major success, stimulating a rebirth in Korean cinema. After Lee's ''Chunhyangjeon'', ''Yangsan Province'' was the second most successful Korean of 1955. As his only surviving film of the 1950s, ''Yangsan Province'' sheds considerable light on Kim Ki-young's early career. Korean critics in the 1950s assumed that Kim was a proponent of the realist school popular in local cinema at the time. Consequently, the now-lost ending to ''Yangsan Province'', in which two dead lovers ascend to heaven on a beam of light, was criticized for being an unrealistic break in the realistic style. In light of Kim's later career, critics today recognize in this cut scene an interest in the fantastic, and a jarring blending of genres, two traits which were to become trademarks of Kim's mature style. Other motifs which were to be explored in depth in Kim's later work can be found in ''Yangsan Province'', such as animal imagery, particularly the use of hens as a representation of fertility and sexuality.<ref name="Sunlit Path"/><ref>Lee, Young-il. p.295.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/KSE.htm|title=The Sunlit Path: Between a Legendary Pre-Modern World and Kim Ki-young's Signature Themes and Style|accessdate=2008-01-28|last=Kim|first=Sung-Eun|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040505193917/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/KSE.htm|archivedate=2004-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/KSE2.htm|title=Animals in the House of Kim Ki-young: Hens, Rats and Cracks in the Modern Family|accessdate=2008-01-28|last=Kim|first=Sung-Eun|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040505194058/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/KSE2.htm|archivedate=2004-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/CB2.htm|title=Genrebender: Kim Ki-young Mixes It Up|accessdate=2008-01-28|last=Berry|first=Chris|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031209001837/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/CB2.htm|archivedate=2003-12-09}}</ref> |
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In 1956 Kim started Kim Ki-young Productions, and began making melodramas, the most popular film genre in South Korea at the time. His first independent production was ''[[Touch-Me-Not (film)|Touch-Me-Not]]'' ([[1956 in film|1956]]), and he followed this with ''[[A Woman's War]]'' |
In 1956 Kim started Kim Ki-young Productions, and began making melodramas, the most popular film genre in South Korea at the time. His first independent production was ''[[Touch-Me-Not (film)|Touch-Me-Not]]'' ([[1956 in film|1956]]), and he followed this with ''[[A Woman's War]]'' and ''[[Twilight Train]]'' (both [[1957 in film|1957]]). With ''[[First Snow (1958 film)|First Snow]]'' ([[1958 in film|1958]]), Kim moved from melodrama to a more socially-conscious realism. ''[[Defiance of a Teenager]]'' ([[1959 in film|1959]]) and ''[[Sad Pastorale]]'' ([[1960 in film|1960]]) followed in this style. ''Defiance of a Teenager'' was one of Kim's most successful and respected early works, and he attended the [[San Francisco International Film Festival]] in 1960 for a showing of this film.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="Melodrama-Realism-Expressionism"/><ref name="kmdb"/><ref name="Master of Madness">{{cite web |url=http://www.cinekorea.com/filmmakers/kimkiyoung.html|title=Kim, Ki-young Master of Madness (From the 41st San Francisco International Film Festival)|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=[http://www.cinekorea.com/ www.cinekorea.com]|language=English}}</ref> |
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===''The Housemaid''=== |
===''The Housemaid''=== |
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1960 was a critical year for South Korea, marking the end of [[Syngman Rhee]]'s dictatorial rule through a civilian revolution. In 1962, another military authoritarian, General [[Park Chung-Hee]], would ascend to power and rule South Korea for nearly two decades. The short period of relative freedom between these two administrations was known as the Second Republic. |
1960 was a critical year for South Korea, marking the end of [[Syngman Rhee]]'s dictatorial rule through a civilian revolution. In 1962, another military authoritarian, General [[Park Chung-Hee]], would ascend to power and rule South Korea for nearly two decades. The short period of relative freedom between these two administrations was known as the Second Republic. During this time, filmmakers took advantage of the relative freedom to create several boldly experimental works. Director [[Yu Hyun-mok]]'s film ''[[Aimless Bullet]]'' ([[1960 in film|1960]]) dates from this period, as does Kim Ki-young's major breakthrough, ''[[The Housemaid]]'' (also 1960). A lurid, expressionistic melodrama involving sexual obsessions, murder and rats, set in an eerie house, this is the first film in which Kim's mature style is in full evidence, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Korean films ever made.<ref name="AMG-bio"/><ref name="koreanfilm-housemaid">{{cite web |url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm60s.html#housemaid|title=The Housemaid (1960)|accessdate=2008-01-28|last=Paquet|first=Darcy|publisher=[http://www.koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Window/AJS.htm|title=The Housemaid and Troubled Masculinity in the 1960s|accessdate=2008-01-28|last=An|first=Jin-soo|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031212045146/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Window/AJS.htm|archivedate=2003-12-12}}</ref> |
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[[Image:Housemaid 1960 Poster.jpg|thumb|160px|left|Theatrical poster to ''The Housemaid'' (1960)]]The film is a domestic thriller telling of a family's destruction by the introduction of a sexually predatory ''femme fatale'' into the household. A composer has just moved into a two-story house with his wife and two children. When his wife becomes exhausted from working at a sewing machine to support the family, the composer hires a housemaid to help with the work around the house. The new housemaid behaves strangely, catching rats with her hands, spying on the composer, seducing him and eventually becoming pregnant by him. The composer's wife convinces the housemaid to induce a miscarriage by falling down a flight of stairs. After this incident, the housemaid's behavior becomes increasingly more erratic. She kills the composer's son, and then persuades the composer to commit suicide with her by swallowing rat poison. The film ends with the composer reading the story from a newspaper with his wife. The narrative of the film has apparently been told by the composer, who then warns the film audience that this is just the sort of thing could happen to anyone.<ref name="koreanfilm-housemaid"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_20.asp|title=<The Housemaid (Hanyeo)> (1960)|accessdate=2008-01-30|language=English|publisher=[http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org]}}</ref> |
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''The Housemaid'' marked Kim's full break with realism, the main style of Korean cinema at the time, into a shockingly new and original form of [[Expressionism]]. The plot, themes and even character names and set out in ''The Housemaid'' were to be revisited by Kim repeatedly in his later career. Besides the first film, the official "Housemaid Trilogy" consists of ''[[Woman of Fire]]'' ([[1971 in film|1971]]) and ''[[Woman of Fire '82]]'' ([[1982 in film|1982]]). Also, at least two other later films-- ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' ([[1972 in film|1972]]) and ''[[Beasts of Prey]]'' ([[1985 in film|1985]])-- are, in some ways, remakes of ''The Housemaid''. By using the story as a template, Kim was able to emphasize different aspects of the scenario, and to concentrate on different details and aspects of the central situation with each new re-telling.<ref name="Melodrama-Realism-Expressionism"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_50.asp|title=<Woman of Fire (Hwanyeo)> (1971)|accessdate=2008-01-30|language=English|publisher=http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org}}</ref> |
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===Mid-areer=== |
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Kim solidified his break with cinematic realism by following ''The Housemaid'' with two more films exploring and styles and genre-mixing radically new for Korean cinema at the time. His ''[[The Sea Knows]]'' ([[1961 in film|1961]]) transcended its roots in the standard anti-Japanese [[World War II]] film to become a distinctive examination of humanity, greed, lust for power and sexuality. ''[[Goryeojang]]'' ([[1963 in film|1963]]), dealt with a similar subject matter as ''[[The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)|The Ballad of Narayama]]'' ([[1983 in film|1983]]), directed by [[Shohei Imamura|Imamura]], a director with whom Kim has often been compared. Kim's version of the story is marked by his unique stylistic mixing of genres, such as framing the story-- which deals with an ancient tradition in which elders were abandoned to die-- within a modern lecture on birth-control. <ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/><ref name="Melodrama-Realism-Expressionism"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_26.asp|title=The Sea Knows (Hyeonhaetaneun algo itda) (1961)|accessdate=2008-01-28|language=English|publisher=http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Cabinet/Koryojang-f11.htm|title=Koryojang|accessdate=2008-01-21|last=Kim|first=Sung-Eun|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031230050823/www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Cabinet/Koryojang-f11.htm|archivedate=2003-12-30}}</ref> |
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Some of the characteristic traits of Kim's mature style, first seen in these three films, are gothic excess, surrealism, horror, perversions and sexuality. Though in stark contrast to the realism, harmony, balance and sentimentality typical of Korean cinema of the time, Kim's films, in an eccentric and metaphorical way, deal with the realities of postwar, industrializing South Korean society and psychology. After having firmly established his auteur status with these films, Kim's unique vision began to wane in his films of the later 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Sept_2/ai_55638068|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate=2008-01-19|title=UCLA Film and Television Archive Presents the Diabolical Cinema of Kim Ki-Young - October 16-28, 1999|accessdate=2008-02-03|publisher=[[UCLA Film and Television Archive]]|language=English}}</ref><ref name="Auteur Spirit">{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/KSN.htm|title=Kim Ki-young's Auteur Spirit|accessdate=2008-01-21|last=Gim|first=Su-nam|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031210004123/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/KSN.htm|archivedate=2003-12-10}}</ref> |
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During the 1970s, South Korea's film industry was at a low point due to government censorship, underfunding and declining audiences. Because of the poor state of the local film industry, cinema attendance in South Korea had dropped drastically since its high-point in the 1960s. Kim Ki-young, however, working independently in B-movie genre films, began to produce some of his most innovative and personal films at this time. Kim fully regained his auteurist spirit with ''[[Woman of Fire]]'' ([[1971 in film|1971]]), the second of his ''Housemaid'' trilogy. The strong use of color, particularly reds and blues to express the anxiety and desires of the film's characters, distinguished this film from the original ''Housemaid'''s dark, shadowy black and white photography. For this film, Kim was named Best Director at the [[Blue Dragon Awards]] and actress Yoon Yeo-jeong was given Special Mention for Best Actress at the [[Festival de Cine de Sitges]]. Not only popular with the critics, Kim's independently-produced films were box-office successes during this era in which most films were harmed through heavy governmental interference. In 1972 Kim's ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' was the only film to sell more than 100,000 tickets in Seoul and won Kim the Best Director prize at both the 9th Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards ceremony and the [[Baeksang Art Awards]] in 1973.<ref name="Master of Madness"/><ref name="Auteur Spirit"/><ref>Lee, Young-il. p.300, 320.</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Darcy|last=Paquet|url=http://koreanfilm.org/history.html|title=A Short History of Korean Film|accessdate=2008-02-03|publisher=[http://www.koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor=Victoria Wiggins|last=Kalat|first=David|title=501 Movie Directors|year=2007|publisher=Barron's Educational Series, Inc.|location=[[London]]|language=English|isbn=0-7641-6022-2|chapter=Ki-young Kim|pages=p.240}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/AMH.htm|title=Representing the Anxious Middle Class: Camera Movement, Sound, and Color in The Housemaid and Woman of Fire|accessdate=2008-02-03|last=Ahn|first=Min-hwa|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040506062157/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Stairway/AMH.htm|archivedate=2004-05-06}}</ref> |
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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://koreanfilm.org/awards.xls|title=Awards|format=XLS|accessdate=2008-02-03|publisher=[http://koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref> |
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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262415/awards|title=Awards for Hwayo (1970)|accessdate=2008-02-03|publisher=[[IMDB]]|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mydvdlist.co.kr/mdlkth/movie/movie.asp?moviecode=16574|title=충녀 - 蟲女 (1972)|accessdate=2008-02-03|publisher=[http://www.mydvdlist.co.kr/ mydvdlist.co.kr]|language=Korean|quote=<수상> 1973년 백상예술대상 감독상 (김기영)}}</ref> |
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Though a critically-acclaimed, financially successful independent, Kim was not immune from governmental pressure. He filmed ''[[Ban Geum-ryeon]]'' in 1975, but it was banned at the time, and not released until 1981, with 40 minutes of footage censored. The government also coerced Kim into making an anti-Communist propaganda film. Kim made the resulting film, ''[[Love of Blood Relations]]'' ([[1976 in film|1976]]), into one of his typically eccentric, personal films, transcending the bounds of propaganda by portraying the communist agent as a ''femme fatale'' character. Kim later commented, "North or south, capitalist or communist, ideology is far less interesting to me than the things that divide the sexes."<ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/> |
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[[Image:Housemaid 1960 Poster.jpg|thumb|160px|left|Theatrical poster to ''The Housemaid'' (1960)]]The film is a domestic thriller telling of a family's destruction by the introduction of a sexually predatory ''femme fatale'' into the household. A composer has just moved into a two-story house with his wife and two children. When his wife becomes exhausted from working at a sewing machine to support the family, the composer hires a housemaid to help with the work around the house. The new housemaid behaves strangely, catching rats with her hands, spying on the composer, seducing him and eventually becoming pregnant by him. The composer's wife convinces the housemaid to induce a miscarriage by falling down a flight of stairs. After this incident, the housemaid's behavior becomes increasingly more erratic. She kills the composer's son, and then persuades the composer to commit suicide with her by swallowing rat poison. The film ends with the composer reading the story from a newspaper with his wife. The narrative of the film has apparently been told by the composer. The composer then addresses the film audience, warning that this is just the sort of thing could happen to anyone.<ref name="koreanfilm-housemaid"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_20.asp|title=<The Housemaid (Hanyeo)> (1960)|accessdate=2008-01-30|language=English|publisher=[http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org]}}</ref> |
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''[[Iodo (film)|Iodo]]'' ([[1977 in film|1977]]) has been called Kim's best film. A remarkable achievement within the depressed and restrictive atmosphere of Korean cinema at the time, it is a daring examination of environmental, religious, social and sexual taboos culminating in a scene of [[necrophilia]] that ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'''s Seoul-correspondent Darcy Paquet calls "one of the most shocking, brazen sequences ever shot by a Korean filmmaker."<ref name="Sunlit Path"/><ref>{{cite web |first=Darcy|last=Paquet|url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm70s.html#iodo|title=Iodo (1977)|accessdate=2008-01-30|publisher=[http://www.koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_58.asp|title=I-eoh Island (I-eodo) (1977)|accessdate=2008-01-30|language=English|publisher=[http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org]}}</ref> |
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The plot, themes and even character names and set out in ''The Housemaid'' were to be revisited by Kim repeatedly in his later career. Besides the first film, the official "Housemaid Trilogy" consists of ''[[Woman of Fire]]'' ([[1971 in film|1971]]) and ''[[Woman of Fire '82]]'' ([[1982 in film|1982]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_50.asp|title=<Woman of Fire (Hwanyeo)> (1971)|accessdate=2008-01-30|language=English|publisher=http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org}}</ref> Also, at least two other later films-- ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' ([[1972 in film|1972]]) and ''[[Beasts of Prey]]'' ([[1985 in film|1985]])-- are, in some ways, remakes of ''The Housemaid''. By using the story as a template, Kim was able to emphasize different aspects of the situation, and to concentrate on different details with each new re-telling.<ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/> |
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===Neglect, rediscovery and death=== |
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===Later 1960s=== |
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Kim's associates characterize him as an eccentric individual. [[Tokyo International Film Festival]] programming director Kenji Ishizaka recalls that Kim's way of writing a screenplay was to walk away from home for three months. He would shut himself up in a cheap hotel, listen to neighborhood gossip and write all night in the dark. South Korean film critic, Lee Young-il remembers that Kim's shoes were never shined, and that one of his few material pleasures was high-quality coffee. Kim Ki-young's unconventional and nonconformist nature also prevented him from participating in the mainstream film industry. The only official title he held within the film community was member of The National Academy of Arts, which he joined in 1997, and he did not cultivate friendships with journalists who could further his career.<ref name="Inuhiko Yomota"/><ref name="kmdb"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/LYIINT.htm|title=Lee Young-Il remembers Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2007-12-26|last=Berry|first=Chris|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031209011527/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/LYIINT.htm|archivedate=2003-12-09}}</ref> |
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Kim's ''[[The Sea Knows]]'' ([[1961 in film|1961]]) transcended its roots in the typical anti-Japanese [[World War II]] film to become a distinctive examination of humanity, power and sexuality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_26.asp|title=The Sea Knows (Hyeonhaetaneun algo itda) (1961)|accessdate=2008-01-28|language=English|publisher=http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org}}</ref> ''[[Goryeojang]]'' ([[1963 in film|1963]]), dealt with a similar subject matter as ''[[The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)|The Ballad of Narayama]]'' ([[1983 in film|1983]]), directed by [[Shohei Imamura|Imamura]], a director with whom Kim has often been compared.<ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/> |
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Nevertheless, since the early 1960s, Kim Ki-young's status as one of the greatest and most original Korean film directors had never been in doubt. His stylistically unique preoccupation with sexuality, horror and melodrama had earned Kim the nickname, "Mister Monster" from his admirers. But by the 1980s Kim's career had fallen into neglect. His continued fascination with B-movie exploitation themes as well as the increasingly obsessive and subversive nature of his films resulted in his isolation from the film community, and in financial failures at the box-office. The last of the ''Housemaid'' trilogy, ''[[Woman of Fire '82]]'' ([[1982 in film|1982]]) is an even more radicalized and baroque retelling of the same basic story he had filmed numerous times in the previous two decades. By the mid-1980s, Kim's film output had slowed and finally stopped.<ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/CB1.htm|title=Kim Ki-Young and the Critical Economy of the Globalized Art-House Cinema|accessdate=2007-12-26|last=Berry|first=Chris|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031212134526/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/CB1.htm|archivedate=2003-12-12}}</ref> |
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===1970s=== |
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During the 1970s, South Korea's film industry was at a low point due to government censorship and underfunding. Because of the poor state of the local film industry, cinema attendance in South Korea had dropped drastically since its high-point in the 1960s. Kim Ki-young, however, working independently in B-movie genre films, was producing some of his most innovative and personal films at this time.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Victoria Wiggins|last=Kalat|first=David|title=501 Movie Directors|year=2007|publisher=Barron's Educational Series, Inc.|location=[[London]]|language=English|isbn=0-7641-6022-2|chapter=Ki-young Kim|pages=p.240}}</ref> In 1972, Kim's ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' was the only film to sell more than 100,000 tickets in Seoul.<ref>Lee, Young-il. p.300.</ref> He was awarded the Best Director prize at the 9th Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards ceremony in 1973.<ref>Lee, Young-il. p.320.</ref> |
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In the early 1990s Kim's work began to be rediscovered by South Korean [[cult film]] fans who discussed his films through the [[Internet]] and exchanged hard-to-find copies by videotape. Noticing this growing domestic Kim Ki-young cult, the Dongsung Cinematheque an art-house theater in Seoul programmed a retrospective showing of Kim's films. With his profile again high in Korean film society, Kim's work began to attract international attention. Five of his films were screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 1996. When Kim Ki-young's career was highlighted at the second [[Pusan International Film Festival]] in 1997, his work found enthusiastic new audiences within the international film community. The strongly positive reception of Kim's work by international audiences surprised even the festival organizers, who immediately began receiving requests for overseas retrospectives of Kim's career. With this renewed interest, Kim began work on a come-back film to be titled ''Diabolical Woman''. The [[Berlin International Film Festival]] invited him to attend a showing of his films in 1998. Before Kim started work on the film or attended the festival, the director and his wife were killed in a house fire on [[February 5]], [[1998]].<ref name="Inuhiko Yomota"/><ref name="Going Global"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/CSIINT.htm|title=The Kim Ki-young Revival: An Interview with Chung Sung-ill|accessdate=2007-12-26|last=Lee|first=Sun-Hwa|coauthors=Ahn Min-hwa|publisher=[http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm The House of Kim Ki-young]|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031209005842/http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/What-Saw/CSIINT.htm|archivedate=2003-12-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fdk-berlin.de/forum98/kim-ki-young.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/19991012180347/http://www.fdk-berlin.de/forum98/kim-ki-young.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate=2008-01-19|archivedate=1999-10-12|title=Kim Ki-Young (1919 - 1998)|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=[http://www.fdk-berlin.de/en/home.html freunde der deutschen kinemathek]|language=German & English}}</ref> |
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Many critics consider ''[[Iodo (film)|Iodo]]'' ([[1977 in film|1977]]) to be Kim's major film of the 1970s and a remarkable achievement within the depressed and oppressive world of Korean cinema at the time. Shown at the [[Berlin International Film Festival]], it is a daring examination of environmental, religious, social and sexual taboos culminating in what ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'''s Seoul-correspondent Darcy Paquet calls "one of the most shocking, brazen sequences ever shot by a Korean filmmaker."<ref>{{cite web |first=Darcy|last=Paquet|url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm70s.html#iodo|title=Iodo (1977)|accessdate=2008-01-30|publisher=[http://www.koreanfilm.org/ koreanfilm.org]|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_58.asp|title=I-eoh Island (I-eodo) (1977)|accessdate=2008-01-30|language=English|publisher=[http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org]}}</ref> |
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Kim Ki-young's death did not stop the revival of interest in his films. A six-film retrospective of Kim's career was shown in [[San Francisco]] twice in 1998. Very few prints of Korean films before the 1970s survive, and at one point 90% of Kim's output was considered lost. Under the "Kim Ki-young Renaissance Project", the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has worked to find Kim's lost films and to restore those which are damaged. In 2006, the French Cinémathèque presented 18 of Kim's films, many of them newly rediscovered and restored through the efforts of the KOFIC.<ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref name="Inuhiko Yomota"/><ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/><ref name="Sunlit Path"/> |
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Kim founded Kim Ki-young production and Sihan Munye film.<ref name="kmdb"/> |
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During his lifetime, Kim gained many strong supporters among the younger generation of South Korean directors. [[Park Kwang-su]] reportedly admires Kim Ki-young above all other directors, and [[Lee Chang-ho]], one of the major Korean directors of the 1970s and 1980s, is another of Kim's followers. In the years since his death, Kim's reputation has remained high and his lasting influence on Korean cinema has continued to be felt. Strong evidence of Kim's influence on a later generation of South Korean filmmakers can be seen in the works of such prominent current directors as [[Bong Joon-ho]], [[Park Chan-wook]], [[Im Sang-soo]], and [[Kim Ki-duk]].<ref name="French Cinematheque"/><ref name="Inuhiko Yomota"/><ref name="Going Global"/> |
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===Rediscovery and death=== |
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Kim Ki-young's unconventional and nonconformist nature prevented him from participating in the mainstream film industry. The only title he held within the film community was member of The National Academy of Arts, which he joined in 1997.<ref name="kmdb"/> After living in retirement for nearly a decade, Kim Ki-young's career was highlighted, and several of his films were shown at the second [[Pusan International Film Festival]] in 1997. Through this retrospective, his work found a new audience in the international film community and in the younger generation of Korean filmmakers. In this atmosphere of renewed interest, Kim began work on a come-back film to be titled ''Diabolical Woman''. Before this film could be started, the director and his wife were killed in a house fire on [[February 5]], [[1998]].<ref name="Meet Mr. Monster"/> |
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==Filmography== |
==Filmography== |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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{{Col-begin}} |
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!style="background:#BED5E1;"| Film title<ref>Filmography based on {{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/mm_basic.asp?person_id=00004686&div=2|title=Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2008-01-22|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=English}} ''and'' {{imdb name|id=0453579|name=Ki-young Kim}}</ref> |
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{{Col-2}} |
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!style="background:#BED5E1;"| Cast |
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* ''[[Box of Death]]'' (1955) |
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!style="background:#BED5E1;"| Notes |
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* ''[[Yangsan Province (film)|Yangsan Province]]'' (1955) |
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!style="background:#BED5E1;"| Release date |
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* ''[[Touch-Me-Not (film)|Touch-Me-Not]]'' (1956) |
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|- |
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* ''[[A Woman's War]]'' (1957) |
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| ''[[Box of Death]]'' |
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| Choi Moo-ryong<br>Gang Hyo-sil |
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* ''[[First Snow (1958 film)|First Snow]]'' (1958) |
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| Anti-Communist melodrama<br>Kim's commercial debut |
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* ''[[Defiance of a Teenager]]'' (1959) |
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| [[June 11]], [[1955]] |
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|- |
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* ''[[The Housemaid]]'' (1960) |
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| ''[[Yangsan Province (film)|Yangsan Province]]'' |
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* ''[[The Sea Knows]]'' (1961) |
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| Kim Sam-hwa<br>Cho Yong-soo |
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* ''[[Goryeojang]]'' (1963) |
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| Historical melodrama<br>Kim's only surviving pre-1960 film |
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* ''[[Asphalt (1964 film)|Asphalt]]'' (1964) |
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| [[October 13]], [[1955]] |
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* ''[[A Soldier Speaks after Death]]'' (1966) |
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|- |
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* ''[[Woman (1968 film)|Woman]]'' (1968) |
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| ''[[Touch-Me-Not (film)|Touch-Me-Not]]'' |
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| Na Gang-hui<br>An Seok-jin |
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* ''[[Elegy of Ren]]'' (1969) |
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| Historical melodrama<br>Kim Ki-young Production's first film |
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* ''[[Woman of Fire]]'' (1971) |
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| [[November 10]], [[1956]] |
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{{Col-2}} |
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|- |
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* ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' (1972) |
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| ''[[A Woman's War]]'' |
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| Jo Mi-ryeong<br>Park Am |
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* ''[[Transgression (film)|Transgression]]'' (1974) |
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| Melodrama |
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* ''[[Promise of the Flesh]]'' (1975) |
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| [[March 1]], [[1957]] |
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* ''[[Love of Blood Relations]]'' (1976) |
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|- |
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* ''[[Iodo (film)|Iodo]]'' (1977) |
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| ''[[Twilight Train]]'' |
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| Jo Mi-ryeong<br>Park Am |
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* ''[[Killer Butterfly]]'' (1978) |
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| Melodrama |
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* ''[[Water Lady]]'' (1979) |
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| [[October 31]], [[1957]] |
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|- |
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* ''[[Ban Geum-ryeon]]'' (1982) |
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| ''[[First Snow (1958 film)|First Snow]]'' |
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| Kim Ji-mee<br>Kim Seung-ho |
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* ''[[Free Woman (film)|Free Woman]]'' (1982) |
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| Melodrama |
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* ''[[Hunting of Fools]]'' (1984) |
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| [[May 30]], [[1958]] |
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|- |
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* ''[[Be a Wicked Woman]]'' (1990) |
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| ''[[Defiance of a Teenager]]'' |
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{{Col-end}} |
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| Hwang Hae-nam<br>Um Aing-ran |
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{{clear}} |
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| Melodrama |
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| [[July 16]], [[1958]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Sad Pastorale]]'' |
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| Kim Seok-hun<br>Kim Ui-hyang |
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| Melodrama |
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| [[March 24]], [[1960]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[The Housemaid]]'' |
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| Lee Eun-shim<br>Ju Jeung-nyeo |
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| Considered one of the greatest Korean films<ref name="koreanfilm-housemaid"/> |
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| [[November 3]], [[1960]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[The Sea Knows]]'' |
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| Kim Wun-ha<br>Gong Midori |
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| Wartime melodrama |
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| [[November 10]], [[1961]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Goryeojang]]'' |
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| Kim Jin-kyu<br>Ju Jeung-ryu |
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| |
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| [[March 5]], [[1963]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Asphalt (1964 film)|Asphalt]]'' |
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| Kim Jin-kyu<br>Jang Dong-he |
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| Crime melodrama |
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| [[April 10]], [[1964]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[A Soldier Speaks after Death]]'' |
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| Hwang Jung-seun<br>Seonwoo Yong-nyeo |
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| War drama |
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| [[January 22]], [[1966]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Woman (1968 film)|Woman]]'' |
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| Shin Seong-il<br>Moon Hee |
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| Melodrama |
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| [[December 23]], [[1968]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Lady Hong]]'' |
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| Lee Soon-jae<br>Moon Hee |
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| Supernatural horror film |
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| [[August 8]], [[1969]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Elegy of Ren]]'' |
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| Lee Soon-jae<br>Moon Hee |
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| Romantic literary drama |
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| [[October 16]], [[1969]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Woman of Fire]]'' |
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| Nam Koong-won<br>Yoon Yeo-jeong |
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| Second in the ''Housemaid'' trilogy<br>Best Director: [[Blue Dragon Awards]]<br>Special Mention Best Actress: [[Festival de Cine de Sitges]] |
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| [[April 1]], [[1971]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Insect Woman (1972 film)|Insect Woman]]'' |
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| Yoon Yeo-jeong<br>Jeon Gye-hyeon |
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| Best Director, Best Actor: [[Baeksang Art Awards]]<br>Best Director, Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards |
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| [[July 6]], [[1972]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Cheju Island Terror]]'' |
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| Kang Moon<br>Mayu Loh |
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| Written by Kim, co-directed with Park Yoon-kyo |
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| [[July 24]], [[1973]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Transgression (film)|Transgression]]'' |
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| Choi Bool-am<br>Park Byeong-ho |
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| Literary adaptation |
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| [[November 9]], [[1974]] |
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|- |
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| ''[[Promise of the Flesh]]'' |
|||
| Kim Ji-mee<br>Lee Jung-gil |
|||
| Melodrama |
|||
| [[July 26]], [[1975]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Love of Blood Relations]]'' |
|||
| Kim Ji-mee<br>Lee Jung-gil |
|||
| Anti-Communist melodrama |
|||
| [[October 5]], [[1976]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Iodo (film)|Iodo]]'' |
|||
| Lee Hwa-si<br>Kim Chung-chul |
|||
| Literary adaptation with supernatural and environmental themes |
|||
| [[October 4]], [[1977]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Peasants (film)|Peasants]]'' |
|||
| Lee Hwa-si<br>Kim Chung-chul |
|||
| Literary melodrama |
|||
| [[March 25]], [[1978]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Killer Butterfly]]'' |
|||
| Nam Koong-won<br>Kim Ja-ok |
|||
| Science-fiction/horror melodrama |
|||
| [[December 2]], [[1978]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Water Lady]]'' |
|||
| Kim Ja-ok<br>Lee Hwa-si |
|||
| Literary adaptation |
|||
| [[April 21]], [[1979]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Neumi]]'' |
|||
| Chang Mi-hee<br>Hah Myung-joong |
|||
| Melodrama about a mute woman |
|||
| [[June 13]], [[1980]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Ban Geum-ryeon]]'' |
|||
| Lee Hwa-si<br>Shin Seong-il |
|||
| Directed in 1975, banned and released censored in 1981 |
|||
| [[March 13]], [[1981]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Woman of Fire '82]]'' |
|||
| Kim Ji-mee<br>Na Young-hee |
|||
| Last of the ''Housemaid'' trilogy |
|||
| [[June 26]], [[1982]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Free Woman (film)|Free Woman]]'' |
|||
| Ahn So-young<br>Shin Seong-il |
|||
| Melodrama |
|||
| [[October 29]], [[1982]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Hunting of Fools]]'' |
|||
| Eom Sim-jeong<br>Kim Seong-geun |
|||
| Melodrama |
|||
| [[December 1]], [[1984]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Beasts of Prey]]'' |
|||
| Kim Sung-kyom<br>No Gyeong-sin |
|||
| Social melodrama |
|||
| [[March 23]], [[1985]] |
|||
|- |
|||
| ''[[Be a Wicked Woman]]'' |
|||
| Yoon Yeo-jeong<br>Hyun Kil-soo |
|||
| Melodrama about two women who plot to kill each others husbands |
|||
| [[September 28]], [[1985]]<br>[[July 21]], [[1995]] |
|||
|} |
|||
==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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*[[Cinema of Korea]] |
*[[Cinema of Korea]] |
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==Bibliography== |
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== External links == |
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* {{cite web |title=김기영의 마술적 리얼리즘을 회상하다 (Recollection on the magic realism of Kim Ki-young)|url=http://www.donga.com/e-county/sssboard/board.php?tcode=03006&s_work=view&no=136&p_page=7&p_choice=&p_item=&p_category= |date=2006-02-17|accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[[Dong-a Ilbo|Dong-a nuri]] / Film.2.0 |language=Korean|first=Ji-ung|last=Heo}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm|title=The House of Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2008-01-22|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040327140305/www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm|archivedate=2004-03-27}} - an extensive page of critical writings |
* {{cite web |url=http://www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm|title=The House of Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2008-01-22|language=English|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040327140305/www.asianfilms.org/korea/kky/KKY/Site-Map/Site-Map.htm|archivedate=2004-03-27}} - an extensive page of critical writings |
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* {{imdb name|id=0453579|name=Ki-young Kim}} |
* {{imdb name|id=0453579|name=Ki-young Kim}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://www.cinekorea.com/filmmakers/kimkiyoung.html|title=Kim, Ki-young Master of Madness (From the 41st San Francisco International Film Festival)|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=[http://www.cinekorea.com/ www.cinekorea.com]|language=English}} |
* {{cite web |url=http://www.cinekorea.com/filmmakers/kimkiyoung.html|title=Kim, Ki-young Master of Madness (From the 41st San Francisco International Film Festival)|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=[http://www.cinekorea.com/ www.cinekorea.com]|language=English}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://www.fdk-berlin.de/forum98/kim-ki-young.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/19991012180347/http://www.fdk-berlin.de/forum98/kim-ki-young.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate= |
* {{cite web |url=http://www.fdk-berlin.de/forum98/kim-ki-young.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/19991012180347/http://www.fdk-berlin.de/forum98/kim-ki-young.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate=2008-01-19|archivedate=1999-10-12|title=Kim Ki-Young (1919 - 1998)|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=[http://www.fdk-berlin.de/en/home.html freunde der deutschen kinemathek]|language=German & English}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/mm_basic.asp?person_id=00004686&div=2|title=Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2008-01-22|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=English}} |
* {{cite web |url=http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/mm_basic.asp?person_id=00004686&div=2|title=Kim Ki-young|accessdate=2008-01-22|publisher=[http://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/index.asp KMDb Korean Movie Database]|language=English}} |
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* {{cite web |title=A Korean master: Kim Ki-Young retrospective at the French 'Cinematheque'|url=http://www.koreasociety.org/film_blog/news/a_korean_master_kim_ki-young_retrospective_at_the_french_cinematheque.html|accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[http://www.koreasociety.org/ koreasociety.org]|language=English}} |
* {{cite web |title=A Korean master: Kim Ki-Young retrospective at the French 'Cinematheque'|url=http://www.koreasociety.org/film_blog/news/a_korean_master_kim_ki-young_retrospective_at_the_french_cinematheque.html|accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[http://www.koreasociety.org/ koreasociety.org]|language=English}} |
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* {{cite web |first=Chuck|last=Stephens|url=http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020802151752/http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate= |
* {{cite web |first=Chuck|last=Stephens|url=http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20020802151752/http://www.sfbg.com/AandE/32/36/monster.html|date=[[June 10]], [[1998]]|accessdate=2008-01-19|archivedate=2002-08-02|title=Meet Mr. Monster: A peek inside the cine-crypt of Kim Ki-young|publisher=[[San Francisco Bay Guardian]]|language=English}} |
||
* {{cite web |title=김기영의 마술적 리얼리즘을 회상하다 (Recollection on the magic realism of Kim Ki-young)|url=http://www.donga.com/e-county/sssboard/board.php?tcode=03006&s_work=view&no=136&p_page=7&p_choice=&p_item=&p_category= |date=2006-02-17 |accessdate=2008-01-28|publisher=[[Dong-a Ilbo|Dong-a nuri]] / Film.2.0 |language=Korean |author=허지웅 (Heo Ji-ung)}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Ki-young}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Ki-young}} |
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[[Category:South Korean film directors]] |
[[Category:South Korean film directors]] |
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{{Korea-bio-stub}} |
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{{asia-film-director-stub}} |
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{{Kim Ki-young}} |
{{Kim Ki-young}} |
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Revision as of 23:42, 4 February 2008
Kim Ki-young | |
---|---|
Occupation(s) | Film director, Screenwriter, Producer, Editor |
Years active | 1955-1990 |
Awards | Best Director, Blue Dragon Awards (1971) Best Director, Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards (1973) Best Director, Baeksang Art Awards (1973) |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 김기영 |
---|---|
Hanja | 金綺泳 |
Revised Romanization | Gim Gi-yeong |
McCune–Reischauer | Kim Ki-yǒng |
Kim Ki-young (10 October, 1919 - February 5, 1998) was a Korean film director, known for his intensely psychosexual and melodramatic horror films, often focusing on the psychology of their female characters.[5] Kim was born in Seoul during the Japanese occupation, raised in Pyongyang and spent some time in Japan, where he became interested in theater and cinema. In Korea after the end of World War II, he studied dentistry while becoming involved in the theater. During the Korean War, he made propaganda films for the United States Information Service, and he used discarded American equipment to produce his first two films in 1955. With the success of these two films, and financial support from his wife, Kim formed his own production company and produced films in the popular melodrama genre for the rest of the decade.
Kim Ki-young's mature style first fully expressed itself in his best known film, The Housemaid (1960), which features a powerful femme fatale and is widely considered to be one of the best Korean films of all time.[6] After a "Golden Age" during the 1960s, the 1970s were a low-point in the history of Korean cinema because of governmental censorship and a decrease in audience attendance. Nevertheless, working independently, Kim produced some of his most unique and eccentric cinematic creations in this era. Films such as Insect Woman (1972) and Iodo (1977) successful at the time, were highly influential on the younger generations of South Korean filmmakers both at their time of release, and with their rediscovery years later. By the 1980s, Kim's popularity had gone into decline, and his output decreased in the second half of the decade. Neglected by the mainstream during much of the 1990s, Kim became a cult figure in South Korean film Internet forums in the early 1990s. Widespread interest in his work later in the decade culminated in a career retrospective at the 1997 Pusan International Film Festival which brought Kim to the attention of the international film community. Kim's films previously little-known or totally unknown outside of South Korea were shown and gained enthusiastic new audiences in Japan, the United States, Germany, France and elsewhere. He was preparing a come-back film when he and his wife were killed in a house fire in 1998. The Berlin International Film Festival gave Kim a posthumous retrospective in 1998, and the French Cinémathèque screened 18 of Kim's films, some newly rediscovered and restored, in 2006. Through the efforts of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), previously lost films by Kim Ki-young continue to be rediscovered and restored. His influence on the current generation of filmmakers in South Korea remains strong.
Life and career
Early life
Kim Ki-young was born in the Gyo-dong neighborhood of Seoul on October 10, 1919, the only son of an elementary school teacher with two daughters. Kim's family was well-educated and artistically-inclined. His two sisters studied art and dance, and encouraged the young Kim to develop his own creativity. The family moved to Pyongyang when Kim was still young. At Pyongyang National High School, Kim showed exceptional talent in music, painting and writing, and his studious nature earned him the nickname "Professor of Physics". While still a student, one of Kim's poems was published in a Japanese newspaper, and he was awarded first prize in a painting competition.[1][5][7]
Despite his strong artistic talents, Kim's main interest was medicine, and he applied for entrance into medical school in 1940. When he failed to gain admittance, Kim moved to Kyoto, Japan, where he worked as a cook, planning to study and save up money to re-apply for medical school. It was in Kyoto that the theater and cinema grew into lifetime interests. He attended many stage productions and saw Japanese and international films. Josef von Sternberg's Morocco (1930) and Fritz Lang's M (1931), made a particularly strong impression on him and their influence was to show in his mature film style.[1][7]
Kim returned to Korea in 1941, planning to work as a dentist, but instead immersed himself in the study of drama. At this time was particularly interested in classical Greek theater, Ibsen and Eugene O'Neill. In order to avoid conscription into the military, Kim returned to Japan briefly in 1945. Upon his return to Korea in 1946, he enrolled in Seoul Medical School, Seoul National University, and graduated with a major in dentistry in 1950. While attending university, his theatrical activities continued. He studied Stanislavsky's theories of acting and founded a theatrical group called "The Little Orchid" which became the National University Theater. With this organization Kim staged many works of the Western theater, including Ibsen's Ghosts, Čapek’s Robots, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and works by Chekhov and O'Neill. The main actress Kim worked with while at the university was Kim Yu-bong, who would later become his wife.[1][2][7][8][9]
Early film career
Kim was working as an intern at Seoul University Medical Clinic when the Korean War broke out. He went to Pusan on June 1, 1951, the day the North Korean army retreated. In Pusan, Kim met Oh Young-jin, a fellow Pyongyang National High School graduate. Oh, who would later write the screenplay to the popular film The Wedding Day (1956)), was producing filmreels for the Korean News through the Bureau of Public Information, and helped Kim get a job writing screenplays with this organization. With Oh's help, Kim was able to get a job working for the United States Information Service in Chinhae. This job helped shape Kim's life in several ways. With the increase in pay he received from the U.S.I.S., he was able to marry Kim Yu-bong in 1951. The two remained married for the rest of their lives. Kim Yu-bong supported Kim Ki-young's film-making career through her dental practice, giving him a unique degree of independence among Korean filmmakers of his era to pursue his own personal visions. At a career retrospective during the last year of his life, Kim commented, "My wife's support has been unflagging over the years, even if, at times, she has seen one of my films and cried 'What have you done with my money?' But at rare moments like this retrospective, she becomes very emotional, recognizing that finally it has all been worthwhile."[1][2][7][9]
Kim filmed about twenty documentaries for the U.S.I.S. with such titles as Diary of the Navy and I Am a Truck for "Liberty News". The latter title was given an award by the U.S. State Department. The training and equipment Kim gained while working on these propaganda newsreels for the U.S.I.S. also enabled him to direct his first commercial film, Box of Death (1955). Kim used expired film stock and a manually-operated news camera from the U.S.I.S. to make this debut feature, an anti-communist melodrama about war orphans. The film, now lost, showed stylistic influences from the Italian neo-realists and was the first Korean film to employ synchronous sound.[1][2][10][11]
With the success of this first film, Kim was able to direct his second feature, the historical costume-drama Yangsan Province (also 1955), again using primitive equipment obtained from the U.S.I.S. Though Kim claimed to have based the film on a traditional song he learned from his mother, no exact source for the story has been found. It is suspected that the director made up the story himself, modeling it on traditional stories such as Chunhyangjeon, Lee Kyu-hwan's re-make of which had recently become a major success, stimulating a rebirth in Korean cinema. After Lee's Chunhyangjeon, Yangsan Province was the second most successful Korean of 1955. As his only surviving film of the 1950s, Yangsan Province sheds considerable light on Kim Ki-young's early career. Korean critics in the 1950s assumed that Kim was a proponent of the realist school popular in local cinema at the time. Consequently, the now-lost ending to Yangsan Province, in which two dead lovers ascend to heaven on a beam of light, was criticized for being an unrealistic break in the realistic style. In light of Kim's later career, critics today recognize in this cut scene an interest in the fantastic, and a jarring blending of genres, two traits which were to become trademarks of Kim's mature style. Other motifs which were to be explored in depth in Kim's later work can be found in Yangsan Province, such as animal imagery, particularly the use of hens as a representation of fertility and sexuality.[11][12][13][14][15]
In 1956 Kim started Kim Ki-young Productions, and began making melodramas, the most popular film genre in South Korea at the time. His first independent production was Touch-Me-Not (1956), and he followed this with A Woman's War and Twilight Train (both 1957). With First Snow (1958), Kim moved from melodrama to a more socially-conscious realism. Defiance of a Teenager (1959) and Sad Pastorale (1960) followed in this style. Defiance of a Teenager was one of Kim's most successful and respected early works, and he attended the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1960 for a showing of this film.[1][9][5][16]
The Housemaid
1960 was a critical year for South Korea, marking the end of Syngman Rhee's dictatorial rule through a civilian revolution. In 1962, another military authoritarian, General Park Chung-Hee, would ascend to power and rule South Korea for nearly two decades. The short period of relative freedom between these two administrations was known as the Second Republic. During this time, filmmakers took advantage of the relative freedom to create several boldly experimental works. Director Yu Hyun-mok's film Aimless Bullet (1960) dates from this period, as does Kim Ki-young's major breakthrough, The Housemaid (also 1960). A lurid, expressionistic melodrama involving sexual obsessions, murder and rats, set in an eerie house, this is the first film in which Kim's mature style is in full evidence, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Korean films ever made.[1][6][17]
The film is a domestic thriller telling of a family's destruction by the introduction of a sexually predatory femme fatale into the household. A composer has just moved into a two-story house with his wife and two children. When his wife becomes exhausted from working at a sewing machine to support the family, the composer hires a housemaid to help with the work around the house. The new housemaid behaves strangely, catching rats with her hands, spying on the composer, seducing him and eventually becoming pregnant by him. The composer's wife convinces the housemaid to induce a miscarriage by falling down a flight of stairs. After this incident, the housemaid's behavior becomes increasingly more erratic. She kills the composer's son, and then persuades the composer to commit suicide with her by swallowing rat poison. The film ends with the composer reading the story from a newspaper with his wife. The narrative of the film has apparently been told by the composer, who then warns the film audience that this is just the sort of thing could happen to anyone.[6][18]
The Housemaid marked Kim's full break with realism, the main style of Korean cinema at the time, into a shockingly new and original form of Expressionism. The plot, themes and even character names and set out in The Housemaid were to be revisited by Kim repeatedly in his later career. Besides the first film, the official "Housemaid Trilogy" consists of Woman of Fire (1971) and Woman of Fire '82 (1982). Also, at least two other later films-- Insect Woman (1972) and Beasts of Prey (1985)-- are, in some ways, remakes of The Housemaid. By using the story as a template, Kim was able to emphasize different aspects of the scenario, and to concentrate on different details and aspects of the central situation with each new re-telling.[9][7][19]
Mid-areer
Kim solidified his break with cinematic realism by following The Housemaid with two more films exploring and styles and genre-mixing radically new for Korean cinema at the time. His The Sea Knows (1961) transcended its roots in the standard anti-Japanese World War II film to become a distinctive examination of humanity, greed, lust for power and sexuality. Goryeojang (1963), dealt with a similar subject matter as The Ballad of Narayama (1983), directed by Imamura, a director with whom Kim has often been compared. Kim's version of the story is marked by his unique stylistic mixing of genres, such as framing the story-- which deals with an ancient tradition in which elders were abandoned to die-- within a modern lecture on birth-control. [7][9][20][21]
Some of the characteristic traits of Kim's mature style, first seen in these three films, are gothic excess, surrealism, horror, perversions and sexuality. Though in stark contrast to the realism, harmony, balance and sentimentality typical of Korean cinema of the time, Kim's films, in an eccentric and metaphorical way, deal with the realities of postwar, industrializing South Korean society and psychology. After having firmly established his auteur status with these films, Kim's unique vision began to wane in his films of the later 1960s.[22][23]
During the 1970s, South Korea's film industry was at a low point due to government censorship, underfunding and declining audiences. Because of the poor state of the local film industry, cinema attendance in South Korea had dropped drastically since its high-point in the 1960s. Kim Ki-young, however, working independently in B-movie genre films, began to produce some of his most innovative and personal films at this time. Kim fully regained his auteurist spirit with Woman of Fire (1971), the second of his Housemaid trilogy. The strong use of color, particularly reds and blues to express the anxiety and desires of the film's characters, distinguished this film from the original Housemaid's dark, shadowy black and white photography. For this film, Kim was named Best Director at the Blue Dragon Awards and actress Yoon Yeo-jeong was given Special Mention for Best Actress at the Festival de Cine de Sitges. Not only popular with the critics, Kim's independently-produced films were box-office successes during this era in which most films were harmed through heavy governmental interference. In 1972 Kim's Insect Woman was the only film to sell more than 100,000 tickets in Seoul and won Kim the Best Director prize at both the 9th Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards ceremony and the Baeksang Art Awards in 1973.[16][23][24][25][26][27] [28] [29][30]
Though a critically-acclaimed, financially successful independent, Kim was not immune from governmental pressure. He filmed Ban Geum-ryeon in 1975, but it was banned at the time, and not released until 1981, with 40 minutes of footage censored. The government also coerced Kim into making an anti-Communist propaganda film. Kim made the resulting film, Love of Blood Relations (1976), into one of his typically eccentric, personal films, transcending the bounds of propaganda by portraying the communist agent as a femme fatale character. Kim later commented, "North or south, capitalist or communist, ideology is far less interesting to me than the things that divide the sexes."[2][7]
Iodo (1977) has been called Kim's best film. A remarkable achievement within the depressed and restrictive atmosphere of Korean cinema at the time, it is a daring examination of environmental, religious, social and sexual taboos culminating in a scene of necrophilia that Variety's Seoul-correspondent Darcy Paquet calls "one of the most shocking, brazen sequences ever shot by a Korean filmmaker."[11][31][32]
Neglect, rediscovery and death
Kim's associates characterize him as an eccentric individual. Tokyo International Film Festival programming director Kenji Ishizaka recalls that Kim's way of writing a screenplay was to walk away from home for three months. He would shut himself up in a cheap hotel, listen to neighborhood gossip and write all night in the dark. South Korean film critic, Lee Young-il remembers that Kim's shoes were never shined, and that one of his few material pleasures was high-quality coffee. Kim Ki-young's unconventional and nonconformist nature also prevented him from participating in the mainstream film industry. The only official title he held within the film community was member of The National Academy of Arts, which he joined in 1997, and he did not cultivate friendships with journalists who could further his career.[3][5][33]
Nevertheless, since the early 1960s, Kim Ki-young's status as one of the greatest and most original Korean film directors had never been in doubt. His stylistically unique preoccupation with sexuality, horror and melodrama had earned Kim the nickname, "Mister Monster" from his admirers. But by the 1980s Kim's career had fallen into neglect. His continued fascination with B-movie exploitation themes as well as the increasingly obsessive and subversive nature of his films resulted in his isolation from the film community, and in financial failures at the box-office. The last of the Housemaid trilogy, Woman of Fire '82 (1982) is an even more radicalized and baroque retelling of the same basic story he had filmed numerous times in the previous two decades. By the mid-1980s, Kim's film output had slowed and finally stopped.[2][34]
In the early 1990s Kim's work began to be rediscovered by South Korean cult film fans who discussed his films through the Internet and exchanged hard-to-find copies by videotape. Noticing this growing domestic Kim Ki-young cult, the Dongsung Cinematheque an art-house theater in Seoul programmed a retrospective showing of Kim's films. With his profile again high in Korean film society, Kim's work began to attract international attention. Five of his films were screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 1996. When Kim Ki-young's career was highlighted at the second Pusan International Film Festival in 1997, his work found enthusiastic new audiences within the international film community. The strongly positive reception of Kim's work by international audiences surprised even the festival organizers, who immediately began receiving requests for overseas retrospectives of Kim's career. With this renewed interest, Kim began work on a come-back film to be titled Diabolical Woman. The Berlin International Film Festival invited him to attend a showing of his films in 1998. Before Kim started work on the film or attended the festival, the director and his wife were killed in a house fire on February 5, 1998.[3][4][7][35][36]
Kim Ki-young's death did not stop the revival of interest in his films. A six-film retrospective of Kim's career was shown in San Francisco twice in 1998. Very few prints of Korean films before the 1970s survive, and at one point 90% of Kim's output was considered lost. Under the "Kim Ki-young Renaissance Project", the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has worked to find Kim's lost films and to restore those which are damaged. In 2006, the French Cinémathèque presented 18 of Kim's films, many of them newly rediscovered and restored through the efforts of the KOFIC.[2][3][7][11]
During his lifetime, Kim gained many strong supporters among the younger generation of South Korean directors. Park Kwang-su reportedly admires Kim Ki-young above all other directors, and Lee Chang-ho, one of the major Korean directors of the 1970s and 1980s, is another of Kim's followers. In the years since his death, Kim's reputation has remained high and his lasting influence on Korean cinema has continued to be felt. Strong evidence of Kim's influence on a later generation of South Korean filmmakers can be seen in the works of such prominent current directors as Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, Im Sang-soo, and Kim Ki-duk.[2][3][4]
Filmography
Film title[37] | Cast | Notes | Release date |
---|---|---|---|
Box of Death | Choi Moo-ryong Gang Hyo-sil |
Anti-Communist melodrama Kim's commercial debut |
June 11, 1955 |
Yangsan Province | Kim Sam-hwa Cho Yong-soo |
Historical melodrama Kim's only surviving pre-1960 film |
October 13, 1955 |
Touch-Me-Not | Na Gang-hui An Seok-jin |
Historical melodrama Kim Ki-young Production's first film |
November 10, 1956 |
A Woman's War | Jo Mi-ryeong Park Am |
Melodrama | March 1, 1957 |
Twilight Train | Jo Mi-ryeong Park Am |
Melodrama | October 31, 1957 |
First Snow | Kim Ji-mee Kim Seung-ho |
Melodrama | May 30, 1958 |
Defiance of a Teenager | Hwang Hae-nam Um Aing-ran |
Melodrama | July 16, 1958 |
Sad Pastorale | Kim Seok-hun Kim Ui-hyang |
Melodrama | March 24, 1960 |
The Housemaid | Lee Eun-shim Ju Jeung-nyeo |
Considered one of the greatest Korean films[6] | November 3, 1960 |
The Sea Knows | Kim Wun-ha Gong Midori |
Wartime melodrama | November 10, 1961 |
Goryeojang | Kim Jin-kyu Ju Jeung-ryu |
March 5, 1963 | |
Asphalt | Kim Jin-kyu Jang Dong-he |
Crime melodrama | April 10, 1964 |
A Soldier Speaks after Death | Hwang Jung-seun Seonwoo Yong-nyeo |
War drama | January 22, 1966 |
Woman | Shin Seong-il Moon Hee |
Melodrama | December 23, 1968 |
Lady Hong | Lee Soon-jae Moon Hee |
Supernatural horror film | August 8, 1969 |
Elegy of Ren | Lee Soon-jae Moon Hee |
Romantic literary drama | October 16, 1969 |
Woman of Fire | Nam Koong-won Yoon Yeo-jeong |
Second in the Housemaid trilogy Best Director: Blue Dragon Awards Special Mention Best Actress: Festival de Cine de Sitges |
April 1, 1971 |
Insect Woman | Yoon Yeo-jeong Jeon Gye-hyeon |
Best Director, Best Actor: Baeksang Art Awards Best Director, Hanguk Play and Film Art Awards |
July 6, 1972 |
Cheju Island Terror | Kang Moon Mayu Loh |
Written by Kim, co-directed with Park Yoon-kyo | July 24, 1973 |
Transgression | Choi Bool-am Park Byeong-ho |
Literary adaptation | November 9, 1974 |
Promise of the Flesh | Kim Ji-mee Lee Jung-gil |
Melodrama | July 26, 1975 |
Love of Blood Relations | Kim Ji-mee Lee Jung-gil |
Anti-Communist melodrama | October 5, 1976 |
Iodo | Lee Hwa-si Kim Chung-chul |
Literary adaptation with supernatural and environmental themes | October 4, 1977 |
Peasants | Lee Hwa-si Kim Chung-chul |
Literary melodrama | March 25, 1978 |
Killer Butterfly | Nam Koong-won Kim Ja-ok |
Science-fiction/horror melodrama | December 2, 1978 |
Water Lady | Kim Ja-ok Lee Hwa-si |
Literary adaptation | April 21, 1979 |
Neumi | Chang Mi-hee Hah Myung-joong |
Melodrama about a mute woman | June 13, 1980 |
Ban Geum-ryeon | Lee Hwa-si Shin Seong-il |
Directed in 1975, banned and released censored in 1981 | March 13, 1981 |
Woman of Fire '82 | Kim Ji-mee Na Young-hee |
Last of the Housemaid trilogy | June 26, 1982 |
Free Woman | Ahn So-young Shin Seong-il |
Melodrama | October 29, 1982 |
Hunting of Fools | Eom Sim-jeong Kim Seong-geun |
Melodrama | December 1, 1984 |
Beasts of Prey | Kim Sung-kyom No Gyeong-sin |
Social melodrama | March 23, 1985 |
Be a Wicked Woman | Yoon Yeo-jeong Hyun Kil-soo |
Melodrama about two women who plot to kill each others husbands | September 28, 1985 July 21, 1995 |
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Vick, Tom. "Kim Ki-young: Biography". All Movie Guide. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "A Korean master: Kim Ki-Young retrospective at the French 'Cinematheque'". koreasociety.org. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ a b c d e "Inuhiko Yomota talks about Kim Ki-young, the Korean giant "Goryeojang" talk show". tiff-jp.net. December 7, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
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(help); External link in
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- ^ a b c Kim, Sung-Eun. "Going Global: An Interview with Lee Yong-kwan". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
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- ^ a b c d "김기영 (Kim Ki-young)" (in Korean). KMDb Korean Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
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- ^ a b c d Paquet, Darcy. "The Housemaid (1960)". koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
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: External link in
(help) Cite error: The named reference "koreanfilm-housemaid" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).|publisher=
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Stephens, Chuck (June 10, 1998). "Meet Mr. Monster: A peek inside the cine-crypt of Kim Ki-young". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Archived from the original on 2002-08-02. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
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(help) - ^ Lee, Young-il (1988). The History of Korean Cinema. Seoul: Motion Picture Promotion Corporation. pp. p.319. ISBN 8-9880-9512-X.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ a b c d e Kim, Sung-Eun. "From Melodrama to Realism to Expressionism: The Early Career of Kim Ki-young". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2004-05-05. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
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- ^ "The Box of Death (Jugeom-ui sangja)(1955)". KMDb Korean Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ a b c d Lee, Yong-Kwan. "The Sunlit Path: Another Side of Kim Ki-young and Mapping the Korean Cinema of the 1950's". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2004-05-05. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ Lee, Young-il. p.295.
- ^ Kim, Sung-Eun. "The Sunlit Path: Between a Legendary Pre-Modern World and Kim Ki-young's Signature Themes and Style". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2004-05-05. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ Kim, Sung-Eun. "Animals in the House of Kim Ki-young: Hens, Rats and Cracks in the Modern Family". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2004-05-05. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ Berry, Chris. "Genrebender: Kim Ki-young Mixes It Up". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ a b "Kim, Ki-young Master of Madness (From the 41st San Francisco International Film Festival)". www.cinekorea.com. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
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- ^ An, Jin-soo. "The Housemaid and Troubled Masculinity in the 1960s". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-12. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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- ^ "<The Housemaid (Hanyeo)> (1960)". koreafilm.org. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
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- ^ "<Woman of Fire (Hwanyeo)> (1971)". http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
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- ^ "The Sea Knows (Hyeonhaetaneun algo itda) (1961)". http://www.koreafilm.org/ koreafilm.org. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
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: External link in
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- ^ Kim, Sung-Eun. "Koryojang". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-30. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
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- ^ "UCLA Film and Television Archive Presents the Diabolical Cinema of Kim Ki-Young - October 16-28, 1999". UCLA Film and Television Archive. June 10, 1998. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
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(help) - ^ a b Gim, Su-nam. "Kim Ki-young's Auteur Spirit". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-10. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
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- ^ Lee, Young-il. p.300, 320.
- ^ Paquet, Darcy. "A Short History of Korean Film". koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
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- ^ Kalat, David (2007). "Ki-young Kim". In Victoria Wiggins (ed.). 501 Movie Directors. London: Barron's Educational Series, Inc. pp. p.240. ISBN 0-7641-6022-2.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help) - ^ Ahn, Min-hwa. "Representing the Anxious Middle Class: Camera Movement, Sound, and Color in The Housemaid and Woman of Fire". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2004-05-06. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
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- ^ "Awards" (XLS). koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
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- ^ "Awards for Hwayo (1970)". IMDB. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ "충녀 - 蟲女 (1972)" (in Korean). mydvdlist.co.kr. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
<수상> 1973년 백상예술대상 감독상 (김기영)
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- ^ Paquet, Darcy. "Iodo (1977)". koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
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- ^ "I-eoh Island (I-eodo) (1977)". koreafilm.org. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
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- ^ Berry, Chris. "Lee Young-Il remembers Kim Ki-young". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
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: External link in
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- ^ Berry, Chris. "Kim Ki-Young and the Critical Economy of the Globalized Art-House Cinema". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-12. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
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: External link in
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- ^ Lee, Sun-Hwa. "The Kim Ki-young Revival: An Interview with Chung Sung-ill". The House of Kim Ki-young. Archived from the original on 2003-12-09. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
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|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Kim Ki-Young (1919 - 1998)" (in German & English). freunde der deutschen kinemathek. June 10, 1998. Archived from the original on 1999-10-12. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
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- ^ Filmography based on "Kim Ki-young". KMDb Korean Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
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(help) and Ki-young Kim at IMDb|publisher=
See also
Bibliography
- Heo, Ji-ung (2006-02-17). "김기영의 마술적 리얼리즘을 회상하다 (Recollection on the magic realism of Kim Ki-young)" (in Korean). Dong-a nuri / Film.2.0. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- "The House of Kim Ki-young". Archived from the original on 2004-03-27. Retrieved 2008-01-22. - an extensive page of critical writings
- Ki-young Kim at IMDb
- "Kim, Ki-young Master of Madness (From the 41st San Francisco International Film Festival)". www.cinekorea.com. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- "Kim Ki-Young (1919 - 1998)" (in German & English). freunde der deutschen kinemathek. June 10, 1998. Archived from the original on 1999-10-12. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help); External link in
(help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)|publisher=
- "Kim Ki-young". KMDb Korean Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- "A Korean master: Kim Ki-Young retrospective at the French 'Cinematheque'". koreasociety.org. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|publisher=
- Stephens, Chuck (June 10, 1998). "Meet Mr. Monster: A peek inside the cine-crypt of Kim Ki-young". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Archived from the original on 2002-08-02. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help)