Directing

Kim Ki-duk

Born December 20, 1960 · Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang, South Korea

Died December 11, 2020 · aged 59

Kim Ki-duk (December 20, 1960 – December 11, 2020) was a prolific South Korean writer-director of idiosyncratic, allegorical, and often extreme and transgressive arthouse dramas, best known for "The Isle" (2000), "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring" (2003), "Samaritan Girl" (2004), "3-Iron" (2004) and "Pieta" (2012). His films have received many distinctions on the international festival…

Known For

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring · 2003

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.

3-Iron

MovieDramaRomance

A drifter lives in people's houses while they are away and repays them by doing chores for them. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman who wants to escape her unhappy marriage.

The Isle

The Isle · 2000

MovieDramaThriller

Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists. One day she falls in love with Hyun-Shik, who is on the run from the police, and rescues him with a fish hook when he tries to commit suicide.

Red Family

Red Family · 2013

A growing friendship with their neighbors softens the resolve of a group of North Korean spies who are posing as an ordinary South Korean family.

Pieta

A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

Venice 70: Future Reloaded · 2013

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

MovieDramaDocumentary

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Moebius

Moebius · 2013

A wife, overwhelmed with hatred for her husband, inflicts an unspeakable wound on their son, as the family heads towards horrific destruction.

Samaritan Girl

Samaritan Girl · 2004

Jae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money, and making sure the coast is clear. When Jae-Young falls in love with one of those men, she suppresses her feelings towards him in respect of her friend who's jealous.

Filmography

Sort

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring · 2003

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.

Director

3-Iron

MovieDramaRomance

A drifter lives in people's houses while they are away and repays them by doing chores for them. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman who wants to escape her unhappy marriage.

Director

The Isle

The Isle · 2000

MovieDramaThriller

Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists. One day she falls in love with Hyun-Shik, who is on the run from the police, and rescues him with a fish hook when he tries to commit suicide.

Writer

Red Family

Red Family · 2013

A growing friendship with their neighbors softens the resolve of a group of North Korean spies who are posing as an ordinary South Korean family.

Editor

Pieta

A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.

Editor

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

Venice 70: Future Reloaded · 2013

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

MovieDramaDocumentary

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Director

Moebius

Moebius · 2013

A wife, overwhelmed with hatred for her husband, inflicts an unspeakable wound on their son, as the family heads towards horrific destruction.

Director

Samaritan Girl

Samaritan Girl · 2004

Jae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money, and making sure the coast is clear. When Jae-Young falls in love with one of those men, she suppresses her feelings towards him in respect of her friend who's jealous.

Executive Producer

Bad Guy

Bad Guy · 2002

MovieDramaThriller

A pimp enforcer takes revenge on a woman who rejected his advances by tricking her into prostitution, but complications arise.

Director

Birdcage Inn

Birdcage Inn · 1998

Jin-a, a young prostitute, moves into a seaside motel called the Birdcage Inn, run by a dysfunctional family. Struggling with her circumstances and the family's treatment, she forms an unlikely bond with the daughter, Hye-mi. As they navigate love, betrayal, and personal growth, their friendship ultimately leads to a deeper understanding and a chance for redemption.

Screenplay

The Net

The Net · 2016

A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.

Director

Address Unknown

Address Unknown · 2001

Address Unknown

Romances end in blood and the frail hopes of individuals are torn apart in a vile karmic continuity of colonialism, civil war and occupation. After surviving Japanese colonization, Korea became the first war zone of the Cold War. The legacy of war remains today in this divided country.

Writer

The Bow

The Bow · 2005

On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a child. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard.

Editor

Human, Space, Time and Human

Human, Space, Time and Human · 2018

Human, Space, Time and Human

A group of very different people set sail on an old warship. The passengers include a senator with his son, a newly-wed couple, a mysterious old man, a group of sex workers and a gang of violent criminals. At first the aggressive behaviour of the thugs and their leader is directed at the first class passengers, but then more and more indiscriminately against the rest of those on board. Rape is followed by murder and it’s not long before the first of numerous and increasingly brutal mutinies takes place.

Writer

One on One

One on One · 2014

MovieDramaCrime

On May 9th, a female high school student was brutally murdered. There are 7 suspects and 7 shadows that terrorize them. Who are they and which one of them is you?

Director

Breath

MovieCrimeDrama

A condemned prisoner slowly falls in love with the married female artist who decorates his prison cell. Jin is a convicted killer awaiting execution on Death Row; Yeon is a lonely artist locked in a loveless marriage.

Director

Rough Cut

Rough Cut · 2008

MovieActionCrime

Gang-pae is #2 gangster in his organization who longs to become an actor. Su-ta is a superstar actor who takes on the role of a gangster in an action movie called Rough Cut. When another actor leaves the set due to Su-tas violent ways, the production is on the verge of shutting down. Su-ta asks Gang-pae, whom he met by chance, to play alongside him in the movie in order to save the production.

Writer

Time

MovieRomanceDrama

Consumed by jealousy, a woman takes an extreme step and undergoes surgery for a new face. Although her lover of 2 years misses her, he falls in love with the new face, not knowing it's the same woman.

Director

The Coast Guard

The Coast Guard · 2002

The Coast Guard

A member of Coast Guard Platoon 23, Private Kang monitors a high-infiltration stretch of beach lined with barbed-wire fencing. Driven by the belief that killing a spy is the highest honor, he waits for a chance to prove his worth.

Director

Poongsan

Poongsan · 2011

MovieActionDrama

Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When South Korean government agents ask him to smuggle in In-ok, the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, into the South, the damsel and rescuer fall in love instead.

Producer

Excavator

Excavator · 2017

20 years after discharge from the army and now an excavator driver, a former paratrooper who had been mobilized to suppress the May 18th Democratic Uprising in Korea in 1980, happens to find a skull in the ground one day. Driving his excavator, he pays visits to his former superiors one by one and realizes they were all both assailants and victims of the times.

Writer

Crocodile

Crocodile · 1996

Under the Han River lives Crocodile, a rugged member of the lumpenproletariat who exists from schemes and stealing. His position as a scavenger of society undermines South Korea’s boasts of its newfound economic position as an Asian Tiger. One day, Crocodile finds a girl floating in his river.

Director

Rough Play

Rough Play · 2013

Young is a nameless actor who dreams of becoming a big movie star. Then one day, he makes his breakthrough with a film and becomes a star overnight.

Screenplay

Wild Animals

Wild Animals · 1997

MovieCrimeDrama

Two Korean ex-pats in Paris are recruited by a French mobster. The duo find themselves at war with their mobster recruiters and each other.

Director