Sept 26 - Oct 5, 2013
de
/ en
27.08.2012
Kim Ki-duk honored with Douglas-Sirk-Award at Filmfest Hamburg
On the 20th anniversary of Filmfest Hamburg, South Korean director Kim Ki-duk will be awarded the Douglas Sirk Prize 2012. Kim Ki-duk’s latest film Pieta will be given its German premiere on October 4, 2012 as part of the award ceremony. The Douglas-Sirk-Award is a prestigious award that has been awarded at Filmfest Hamburg every year since 1995 to a well-deserving film director for his or her contribution to cinematic culture.
“Kim Ki-duk is a director who is constantly questioning the art of film-making. Over the last few years he has even questioned himself as an artist. We are delighted to be able to honor this reflection. Furthermore, his 18th film Pieta is an extremely Douglas Sirk-like melodrama despite the language of film having changed so much since the 1950s,” says festival manager Albert Wiederspiel about the choice.
Kim Ki-duk was born in 1960 in Bonghwa, South Korea. When he was nine years old, his family moved to the capital, Seoul. Reflecting on his childhood, Kim Ki-duk says: “I was brought up in a very military manner. Beatings were normal. I don’t feel pain any more.” After working in various part-time jobs and completing his military service, Kim Ki-duk decided to study fine art in Paris in 1990 and then later dedicated himself to film. Since 1996, Kim Ki-duk has directed 18 films.
His work has found particular favor with critics and the public in Europe. Only a few East Asian film-makers have garnered so much attention in this part of the world. Kim Ki-duk has won numerous other film festival awards, including the Silver Bear at the Berlinale 2004 for Samaria, and, in the same year, the Silver Lion in Venice for Bin Jip – 3-Iron. He also won the prize in the “Un Certain Regard” section in 2011 for his ruthless self-portrait Arirang.
“Kim Ki-duk is a director who is constantly questioning the art of film-making. Over the last few years he has even questioned himself as an artist. We are delighted to be able to honor this reflection. Furthermore, his 18th film Pieta is an extremely Douglas Sirk-like melodrama despite the language of film having changed so much since the 1950s,” says festival manager Albert Wiederspiel about the choice.
Kim Ki-duk was born in 1960 in Bonghwa, South Korea. When he was nine years old, his family moved to the capital, Seoul. Reflecting on his childhood, Kim Ki-duk says: “I was brought up in a very military manner. Beatings were normal. I don’t feel pain any more.” After working in various part-time jobs and completing his military service, Kim Ki-duk decided to study fine art in Paris in 1990 and then later dedicated himself to film. Since 1996, Kim Ki-duk has directed 18 films.
His work has found particular favor with critics and the public in Europe. Only a few East Asian film-makers have garnered so much attention in this part of the world. Kim Ki-duk has won numerous other film festival awards, including the Silver Bear at the Berlinale 2004 for Samaria, and, in the same year, the Silver Lion in Venice for Bin Jip – 3-Iron. He also won the prize in the “Un Certain Regard” section in 2011 for his ruthless self-portrait Arirang.
He reaches his audiences in the west with intimate stories of outsiders whose tragedies are, however, rooted in basic, even religious-related, psychology. Kim’s characters are plagued by fear and guilt and are looking for redemption.
In his film Pieta, Kim Ki-duk gives the audience an extremely thrilling drama that goes to the limits of what is portrayable and is dedicated to themes of debt and atonement. Seemingly under the influence of the on-going economic crisis, Kim Ki-duk tells the story of a debt collector who punishes people with brutal violence and mutilation when they are unable to pay up. At one point the protagonist asks his mother, “What is money?” “The beginning and the end of all things,” she replies.
The Hamburg film scene has been linked to Kim Ki-duk since his film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and... Spring (2003) which was supported by local funding and post-produced in Hamburg.
Pieta is distributed by MFA + Filmdistribution and is due to be released in German theaters in 2013.
In his film Pieta, Kim Ki-duk gives the audience an extremely thrilling drama that goes to the limits of what is portrayable and is dedicated to themes of debt and atonement. Seemingly under the influence of the on-going economic crisis, Kim Ki-duk tells the story of a debt collector who punishes people with brutal violence and mutilation when they are unable to pay up. At one point the protagonist asks his mother, “What is money?” “The beginning and the end of all things,” she replies.
The Hamburg film scene has been linked to Kim Ki-duk since his film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and... Spring (2003) which was supported by local funding and post-produced in Hamburg.
Pieta is distributed by MFA + Filmdistribution and is due to be released in German theaters in 2013.
