Kim Ki-duk

Kim Ki-duk (1960 to 2020) was a South Korean filmmaker noted for idiosyncratic art-house films that earned many distinctions on the international festival circuit. Born in Ponghwa, North Kyongsang, he served five years in the South Korean marine corps and spent two years in Paris as a street portrait painter before turning to screenwriting, winning a Korean Film Council screenplay prize in 1995 and making his directing debut with Crocodile in 1996. His best-known feature is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003). He won the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice for 3-Iron and the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin for Samaritan Girl, both in 2004, the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in 2011 for the documentary Arirang, and the Golden Lion at Venice in 2012 for Pieta. He died on 11 December 2020 from complications of COVID-19 in Latvia.