Director wins Cannes sidebar prize
Kim, a favorite of European film festivals but an outsider in the Korean film world, shared the best film prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 64th Cannes Film Festival with “Stopped On Track” by Germany’s Andreas Dresen.
The section is considered to be the second most important next to the competition for the Palme d’Or.
With his wrenching cinematic self-portrait, “Arirang,” Kim has become the first Korean filmmaker to win awards at all three of Europe’s biggest film festivals.
In 2004, he won the award for best direction for “Samaritan Girl” at the Berlin Film Festival and for “3-Iron” at the Venice Film Festival.
Accepting the award at Cannes, Kim sang a few bars from a melancholy folk song about the hills and valleys of life that also serves as the film’s title.
“Arirang,” which drew a lengthy standing ovation when it screened on May 13 during the 12-day event, is an emotionally raw film exercise aimed at curing a crippling bout of “director’s block.”
The picture features Kim living in self-imposed exile and grilling himself on camera about his own perceived failings as a director and a human being.
The film, which doesn’t have a release date for Korea yet, is expected to trigger a controversy here because Kim relays raw stories about several figures in the local film industry, using their real names.
He reveals on camera that actress Lee Na-young was almost killed while filming a scene in his 2008 drama “Dream,” in which the character hangs herself.
Kim rescued her but the near fatal accident sent him into a long depression.
One of the more controversial stories in the film is about a conflict Kim had with Jang Hun, an emerging Korean director and Kim’s former apprentice.
News of the conflict arose late last year, with news outlets reporting that Kim had become “devastated,” refusing to make any movies, since the “betrayal” of a young director.
According to the news reports, Kim had been working on a film project with Jang and another producer when the two essentially took the film to a major film distributor and made the film without him.
Though the news reports didn’t reveal the young director’s name, readers could infer that it was Jang, based on a variety of statements made in the report.
Kim later made a statement saying he was fine and had already reconciled with Jang.
In “Arirang,” however, Kim criticizes Jang for the “betrayal” of uttering his real name. He also places blame on several other people.
With this award, Korean films have now taken the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section two years in a row, following last year’s “Hahaha” directed by Hong Sang-soo, who also presented his latest film “The Day He Arrives” in the section at this year’s festival.
By Moon So-young, AFP [symoon@joongang.co.kr]
0 Comment:
Post a Comment