Im Kwon-taek

Director

May 2, 1936 (90 years)

Jangseong, South Jeolla, South Korea

Biography

Im Kwon-taek (born May 2, 1936) is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. In an active and prolific career, his films have won many domestic and international film festival awards as well as considerable box-office success, and helped bring international attention to the Korean film industry. As of spring 2015, he has directed 102 films.

Filmography

5.7

General's Son

In Japanese-occupied South Korea, a young man, newly-released from prison, is accepted into a gang for his fighting skills and quickly rises to the top. Based on the life of South Korean mobster and politician Kim Du-han.

5.3

Downfall

A young woman is tricked into prostitution, thinking she is going to sell beverages at a village store. She soon learns about the dark world of Korea's red-light districts, where their pimps and society exploit her.

7.1

The Surrogate Womb

A barren noblewoman encourages her husband to take a young peasant as a surrogate to secure the male line.

6.6

Chunhyang

Once at a pagoda Mongryong Lee, a scion of a well-to-do family, meets Chunhyang, the young daughter of a courtesan and an aristocrat. Despite her low social standing she is smart and well-educated. The young people fall in love and think about marriage so that they could always be together. Mongryong is soon to go to the capital to take the state civil service exam. They part and in Chunhyang's life there appears the greedy and lustful Byun Hak-do, who tries to seduce her.

5.9

Revivre

A middle-aged man who has recently lost his wife to cancer indulges in fantasies about a young woman at his work, in the new film from Korean master Im Kwon-taek.

7.0

Chihwaseon

Jang Seung-eop, also known as "Chihwaseon," drinks and paints all day. Through Mae-hyang, he learns the meaning of fate, sees art beyond even the smallest things, and sets out for the path he seeks.

5.7

General's Son 2

Upon being released from prison, Kim Du-han begins rebuilding his street gang in the face of Hayashi's Yakuzas and increasing Japanese influence.

7.8

Sopyonje

The 1930s. Wishing to pass down his knowledge, the father teaches his children to sing Pansori. The elder daughter and the younger son become professional singers but time has changed and people are no longer interested in folk singing. The younger boy gives up on his studies and runs away from home. Fearful that the daughter might do the same, the father blinds her. The blind girl continues to practice with great diligence and achieves perfection in this art. Years pass, the brother is roaming the world in search of his sister and eventually finds her. All night long they sing together sharing their memories.

5.9

Low Life

A sprawling story of one man's tumultuous life within the context of the South Korean political situation during the second half of the 20th century.

7.0

Come, Come, Come Upward

Schoolgirl Sun Nyog suffers from pain and hardships, life and the world around her confuse the girl. Her father, a Buddhist monk, left them, the mother has totally neglected her daughter while her lover harasses the girl. One winter day Sun Nyog goes to the temple. She decides to study Buddhism and is ordained as a nun. In 1989 the film participated in the MIFF competition and won the Bronze St. George for Best Actress.

6.8

The Taebaek Mountains

Based on the great river story, The Taebaek Mountains chronicles the lasting generational conflict between proprietors and peasants in South Korea.

7.4

Festival

While awaiting the publication of his fairytale about his dementia-stricken octogenarian mother, an acclaimed South Korean novelist receives news that she has passed away, so he leaves the city and returns to her village to take part in the funeral.

6.6

General's Son 3

Following the final events of General's Son 2, Kim Du-han is forced to go on the lam but eventually returns to Jongro where he attempts to rebuild his gang with the brothers that are still alive and loyal and defeat Hayashi's Yakuzas once and for all.

6.2

Hanji

Low-ranking civil servant Pil Yong (Park Joong Hoon) has things hard looking after his disabled wife(Ye Ji Won). He takes charge of a hanji project in hopes it will bring him a promotion. His wife comes from a family of hanji masters. One of his tasks include working with quarrelsome filmmaker Ji Won (Kang Su Yeon), who is shooting a documentary about hanji. Though he knows little about the subject to begin with, the more he learns about hanji, the more it takes on a new significance for him and the world around him.

9.0

Her Majesty Yeonghwa

At the close of the reign of Sin the Great in Goguryeo (B.C.37-A.D.668), royalist Uso is executed by a false incrimination made by a treacherous retainer Yangsin and his sister Jangssi. His daughter becomes a royal concubine of King Nammu, and called Her Majesty Yeonghwa. She revenges herself on the party of Yangsin. After the king passes away, she makes his brother Yeonu accede to the throne and has the whole country under her thumb. But she has no child. When the king begets a son from another woman, she dies of jealousy at last.

6.2

Farewell to the Duman River

Patriotic university student Youngwoo and his friends, led by their teacher Lee Sung, along with a British friend bid farewell to their families and become freedom fighters in Manchuria fighting against the Japanese occupation around the Tumen River.

6.3

Beyond the Years

A drama centered on brother-and-sister musicians trained to perform the epic Korean poems known as pansori.

N/A

Bhiksuni

A partially restored version of Director Im Kwon-taek's Bhiksuni, which was halted in 1984 due to opposition from the Buddhist community. It contains the agony of a woman who has converted to Buddhism. The documentary, which is shown together with the partially restored version, contains the story of the production of Bhiksuni told by actress Kim Ji-mi, director Im Kwon-taek, cinematographer Jung Il-sung, and writer Song Gil-han.

7.0

Sinmungo

No description available

9.5

Femme Fatale, Jang Hee Bin

King Sukjong assigns Jang Ok-nan, a court lady, as a concubine overnight. Jang plots to drive the current Queen into exile.