[Korean Film News] Kim Ki-young Retrospective

The Cinémathèque Française is organizing the largest retrospective ever devoted to Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-young, with 18 films to be screened. Director of The Housemaid (regrettably unavailable on DVD), Kim Ki-young made 32 films (of which only 22 remain) in a career that spanned over 40 years (1955-1995). 'Le Cinéma de Kim Ki-young' takes place from November 29th through December 24th. A round table discussion featuring actress Lee Hwa-si, professor Kim Hong-joon and director Bong Joon-ho will be held Saturday, December 2nd. Creator of erotic melodramas, psychological dramas of astonishing violence and harrowing thrillers, the films of Kim Ki-young are above all the work of a pitiless observer of the relations between the sexes.

Kim Hong-joon is a professor at the Korean National University of Arts. He was assistant to Im Kwon-taek. In 1994, he directed La Vie en Rose. From 2001 to 2005, he directed the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. From 2000 to 2005, he was a consultant to KOFIC (Korean Film Council). Kim is a co-programmer of the Kim Ki-young retrospective.

Lee Hwa-si starred in several of Kim Ki-young’s films: La Transgression (1974), Love of Blood Relations (1976), I-Eoh Island (1977), The Soil (1978) and Story of Ban Gum-Yon (1981). Following the censorship of the latter, Lee acquired a scandalous reputation and was prohibited from acting in Korea. She later went into self-imposed exile in Canada for political reasons.

[Source: Cinémasie, La Cinémathèque Française]