Biography
Kim Ki-duk (December 20, 1960 – December 11, 2020) was a prolific South Korean writer-director of idiosyncratic, allegorical, and often extreme and transgressive arthouse dramas, best known for "The Isle" (2000), "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring" (2003), "Samaritan Girl" (2004), "3-Iron" (2004) and "Pieta" (2012). His films have received many distinctions on the international festival circuit.
Known For
Complete Filmography
Ask the Mountain
2025
Writer, Executive Producer
In Yuhu Village at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, a nation called Naxi lives. The legend of a piece of sapphire the size of a rice bag has bee...
Call of God
2022
Director, Director of Photography, Screenplay
Anticipation of Love has settled in the heart of a young lady. The boundaries between dream and passion are very elusive. Life is full of physical de...
The Past Time
2021
Executive Producer
The love story of four young people in Jingnian City, a scenic spot, goes in an unexpected direction due to an "epidemic"...
Life is a Thrill
2020
as Self
This is a story about an amazing person who devotes his life to his students. Vladimir Fenchenko lit the hearts of hundreds of young filmmakers with l...
Dissolve
2019
Director, Writer, Editor
In Almaty, a sheltered and chaste woman named Din sees her life intertwined with the experiences of a prostitute who looks like her.
Human, Space, Time and Human
2018
Director, Writer, Editor
A group of very different people set sail on an old warship. The passengers include a senator with his son, a newly-wed couple, a mysterious old man, ...
Plankton Salesmen
2017
as Self (archive footage)
A nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in the early 2000s in Russia. The story of the Cinema Without Borders company a...
Excavator
2017
Writer
20 years after discharge from the army and now an excavator driver, a former paratrooper who had been mobilized to suppress the May 18th Democratic Up...
Stop
2016
Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography
The story of a young married couple who were exposed to radiation during the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactor.
The Net
2016
Director, Writer, Executive Producer
A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.
Made in China
2014
Screenplay, Producer
Chinese eel farmer Chen smuggles himself into Korea to prove that his eels are safe to eat.
One on One
2014
Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer
On May 9th, a female high school student was brutally murdered. There are 7 suspects and 7 shadows that terrorize them. Who are they and which one of ...
Red Family
2013
Editor, Screenplay, Producer
A growing friendship with their neighbors softens the resolve of a group of North Korean spies who are posing as an ordinary South Korean family.
Rough Play
2013
Screenplay
Young is a nameless actor who dreams of becoming a big movie star. Then one day, he makes his breakthrough with a film and becomes a star overnight.
Godsend
2013
Writer, Producer
A woman who desperately wants a baby asks a girl who is considering abortion to give her the baby instead. The two arrive at an isolated vacation home...
Ongoing Smile
2013
as Self
Documentary about Busan International Film Festival founder Kim Dong-ho.
My Mother
2013
A short film shot for Venice 70: Future Reloaded
My Mother
2013
Director
A short film shot for Venice 70: Future Reloaded
Moebius
2013
Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer
A wife, overwhelmed with hatred for her husband, inflicts an unspeakable wound on their son, as the family heads towards horrific destruction.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of t...
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
Director
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of t...
Balkan Spirit
2013
as Self - Director
Filmmaker Hermann Vaske explores the creative Balkan world in the hopes of understanding the meaning of "Balkan spirit".
Pieta
2012
Director, Editor, Writer
A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.
Arirang
2011
as Himself
Documentary on director Kim Ki-Duk looking back at his film career.
Amen
2011
as Masked Man
A woman goes to France in search for a man who she lost contact with, only to find that he has moved on to Venice. On her way to Venice, she faces a h...
Amen
2011
Editor, Cinematography, Director
A woman goes to France in search for a man who she lost contact with, only to find that he has moved on to Venice. On her way to Venice, she faces a h...
Arirang
2011
Director, Writer, Producer
Documentary on director Kim Ki-Duk looking back at his film career.
Poongsan
2011
Producer, Screenplay
Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When Sout...
Dream
2008
Director, Screenplay, Producer
In the aftermath of a car crash, a man discovers his dreams are tied to a stranger's sleepwalking.
Rough Cut
2008
Writer, Producer
Gang-pae is #2 gangster in his organization who longs to become an actor. Su-ta is a superstar actor who takes on the role of a gangster in an action ...
Beautiful
2008
Story, Producer
Eun-young is a woman cursed with great beauty. Wherever she goes, she gets unwanted admiration from men and jealousy from women. One day, one of her s...
Breath
2007
as Prison Warden
A condemned prisoner slowly falls in love with the married female artist who decorates his prison cell. Jin is a convicted killer awaiting execution o...
Breath
2007
Director, Writer
A condemned prisoner slowly falls in love with the married female artist who decorates his prison cell. Jin is a convicted killer awaiting execution o...
Kim Ki-duk, filmmaker of convulsive beauty
2007
The documentary, directed by a French expert on Asian cinema, is a filmed interview with Korean director Kim Ki-duk in which the artist talks about hi...
Time
2006
Director, Writer, Producer
Consumed by jealousy, a woman takes an extreme step and undergoes surgery for a new face. Although her lover of 2 years misses her, he falls in love w...
The Nine Lives of Korean Cinema
2006
as Himself
South Korean cinema is in the throes of a creative explosion where mavericks are encouraged and masters are venerated. But from where has this phenome...
The Bow
2005
Director, Screenplay, Producer
On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a child. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthda...
3-Iron
2004
Director, Screenplay, Editor
A drifter lives in people's houses while they are away and repays them by doing chores for them. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman who ...
Samaritan Girl
2004
Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer
Jae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money, and making...
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
2003
as Adult Monk
An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as...
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
2003
Director, Editor, Writer
An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as...
The Coast Guard
2002
Director, Screenplay
A member of Coast Guard Platoon 23, Private Kang monitors a high-infiltration stretch of beach lined with barbed-wire fencing. Driven by the belief th...
Bad Guy
2002
Director, Writer
A pimp enforcer takes revenge on a woman who rejected his advances by tricking her into prostitution, but complications arise.
Address Unknown
2001
Director, Writer
Romances end in blood and the frail hopes of individuals are torn apart in a vile karmic continuity of colonialism, civil war and occupation. After su...
Real Fiction
2000
Director, Writer, Production Design
A repressed artist receives ritual abuse from those who pass him as he paints portraits in the park. Gradually becoming more frustrated, anger builds ...
The Isle
2000
Director, Writer, Production Design
Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists...
Birdcage Inn
1998
Director, Screenplay
Jin-a, a young prostitute, moves into a seaside motel called the Birdcage Inn, run by a dysfunctional family. Struggling with her circumstances and th...
Wild Animals
1997
Director, Writer, Art Direction
Two Korean ex-pats in Paris are recruited by a French mobster. The duo find themselves at war with their mobster recruiters and each other.
The Rocket Is Launched
1997
Actor Choi Jong-won is late to a movie shoot. He bemoans the state of the national economy when he sees a young man riding a fancy sports car.
Crocodile
1996
Director, Writer
Under the Han River lives Crocodile, a rugged member of the lumpenproletariat who exists from schemes and stealing. His position as a scavenger of soc...