Contemporary Korean cinema - production, tradition and ... Kim Ki-Douk. By Andronika Martonova

Contemporary Korean cinema -
production, tradition and…
Kim Ki-Douk

Andronika Martonova

For some time now the cinema productions of South Korean conquers the screens of Europe, the hearts of the audience and the approval of the international juries during the film festivals. The latest proof of that is the award of the director Kim Ki-Douk for his film “Samaria” during Berlinale 2004. After this probably earned reward and also after the good presentation of the Korean cinema during the festival in San Sebastian (with Bong Joon-ho’s “Memories of Murder” and Kim Ki-Duk’s “Spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring”) critics articles were published about the so-called “festival fashion for Korean cinema” and “the Korean syndrome on screen”. In fact, even if there is such fashion – it is a proper and high quality alternative for the mass Hollywood production that is flooding the cinema halls around the world more and more. Of course there are some critics and cinematologists who explain the alleged for “fashionable” modern Korean cinema with the natural process of development of film production in the country of the morning freshness. In its article “Evolving Aesthetics in Korean Cinema: from “Literary” to “Art” films” Hyangsoon Yi writes 1:

“Korean cinema has undergone a major transformation since the late 1980s. Its subjects and styles have been diversified and refined. The emergence of the new, vital film culture accounts for the unprecedented commercial success of Kang Chegyu’s Korean blockbuster Shiri with both domestic and international audiences. The recognition of Im Kwontaek’s artistic achievements in Ch’unhyang and Ch’ihwason at the Cannes Film Festival is yet another indication of the remarkable feat of the New Korean Cinema in the recent years.”

Another opinion is given by the producer Karl Baumgartner from “Pandora Film” (one of the biggest producing, co-producing and spreading companies, the German leader, specialized in the field of Asian, European art cinema, and the cinema of the “third world”). Here are some headlines from their “Pandora Film Presents”: the Turkish “Road (Yol)” by Yilmaz Guney (1982); Two films by the Chinese director Chen Kaige “Farewell to my concubine” (1993) and “Temptress moon” (1996); The Indian “Kama Sutra” (2000) by Mira Nair and “The Samsara” (2001) by Nalin Pan; The Hon Kong “Chinese box” (1997) by Wayne Wang; The films by the Tajikistani director Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov “Luna Papa”(1999) and “Shik”(2003). Baumgartner is also a Korean movie producer - presented by Kim Ki-Douk and “Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring” (2003) an now he works on his new project.

On my question, asked in the middle of March this year “Do you think that Korea will soon be a serious film competitor to Japan, Hong Kong, China?” Baumgartner answered 2:

“The Koreans found a very effective way for regulating the film production and increase the national cinema. Before it was like this- the American movies displaced the Korean cinema in the Korean cinemas. The Koreans changed the law and enforced the cinemas to show in minimum 100 days of the year native Korean movies. That way they developed the market. This brought to the making of many new films. For a young director in Korea it is easier to be showed in his own country, and also it’s easier to find money for his film. And so- many Korean films are made-but this doesn’t mean that they are better. And this doesn’t guarantee that these movies will be easily spread abroad. Here we have a superiority of the national meaning. The Korean films take a big part in the national market. Of course- if I produce 50 films a year, there are bigger chances that from these 50 there would be found 3 genius directors. And those three will go abroad. If I produce just 10 films – things will look differently, right? The development is wavy. Here is another example with the Iranian cinema. In the last 10 years it war rewarded in many festivals. During every film festival 2-3 Iranian movies are presented. Well, they haven’t won an Oscar yet, but they have in their collection a Golden palm, important nominations… The situation is changing, though. The people say, “Oh, we have seen this Iranian cinema, it’s too much.” This brought to overexposure, over saturate. The audience is looking for something new. Something normal. Iranian cinema became fashion. This could happen to the Korean cinema too. Unfortunately, the Western market not always functions about the countries. But there are directors working in the different countries. From China, Japan, Vietnam, Nepal – we could gather together around ten directors, whose films are shown in all of the Western countries. New names are appearing, who could also be very good. But you can see if they can carry on what they did with their first movie as early as their second movie.”

The cinema of South Korean, China, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand conquers the hearts of the audience with its variety, with that odd combination of beautiful images, strange Eastern philosophy, sudden emotional contrasts, luscious mitologems, unexpected characters. Here we talk about those films, which are in the area of the category “art”. (It is a different question how much the concept of ”art” can carry the idea of the commercial). Probably, the Western audience sees in the Eastern films something very important: stile uniformity (regarding to universal cultural code, not to the individual author enlightenment). The original “Made in Asia” cinematographic style, that builds according to its own rules the esthetics on the screen, the line of the story and the message to the viewer.

In the last 5-6 years in Bulgaria thanks to the festivals we had the opportunity to watch some of the Korean cinema. Some of the films, which made a great impression on the audience and the specialist, are: “Il Mare” (2002) by Hyun-Seung Lee, “Secret Tears” (2000) by Park Ki-Hyung, “Oasis” (2002) by Lee Chang-Dong, “Spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring” (2003) by Kim Ki-Douk.

Let us open now the door of the history of Bulgarian cinema and take a look inside.

In the dawn of cinema - the beginning of the 20th century- things were different. Not according to the expectations, in the first years of the cinematography – the mute period, the Bulgarian viewer had very good and highly varied visual information about the East Asian world. In the most popular daily papers, like the newspaper “Dnevnik” there were published annunciations for cinema projections. The leader in Eastern beauty and picture film showing is “Modern Theater”. Followed by “Odeon” and “The cinema of city casino”.

In the years 1909-1912 the spectator watched many documentary films. In the Bulgarian media it is called “view”. But actually it was a rich verity of documentary genres. Movies, recorded not from Eastern, but occidental travelers - messengers with cameras, owned by the big film producers – like “Lumier”. They gave or sold the sequences to the owners of the cinemas. Let’s not forget that the film show was also realized thanks to the wandering nomads of the picture – the traveling projectionists with cinema tents or the ascent dealers of visual products. It is possible that the Eastern program shown in Bulgaria was also seen in other Balkan countries. But we can’t follow the steps of the “cinema nomads” - in our records there is no information on what of the Asian cinema has been showed in the tents. But there is information from the cinemas. The senses of the audience ran into a totally different culture, tradition and civilization. The sequences of the East surely were an exiting exotic, causing interest and maybe sometimes laughter. The first sequences shown in Bulgaria were “Korean harbors” (1911) and the drama “The honor of the Korean” (1911) 3. Unfortunately about these films there is no comment, review, photos and even a short description of the story. We can only guess about the subject, as also about the team of the films. In the newspapers there is only the day, time and place of the film show.

But let’s go back to the modern Korean cinema. The orientalists have always been exited about the Asian relations in the area of religion, philosophy, history, literature, theatre, music, etc. There are many researches, which bring more or less light to the similar and in the same time dialogic nature of the culture in the “region of Buddha”. And it is natural and normal the cinematic knowledge to rely on these analyses. They are necessary so that we can follow from today’s point of view how the traditional is being transformed trough the movies of the Far East. How the whole compendium of myths, symbols, pictures, poetry, subjects and est., becomes the main source of their cinema; what happens to this transposition, when it is rowed with the speed of 24 frames a second; is it to be found everywhere in South Asian and Korean cinema or is it specified only in some genres and directors; are these films of the country of the Eastern Freshness, that are presented at the festivals and awarded with so many prizes just a projection of the untraditional on the screen, which strongly impresses the Western viewer?

“The Eastern traditionalism reflects the aspiration for preservation of the original character, following the dao law on going back to the origin.” – writes Tatiana Grigorieva in her book “Dao logos – meeting of cultures” 4. Here are some examples how this is realized in some of the movies we spoke about earlier.

We will begin with “Oasis” by Lee Chang-Dong - a very different film not only for Korea, it has an equal dose of cruelty and sentimentality, leaving scars and wounds in the mind of the audience. “Oasis” and the actress So-ri Moon received a well-deserved prize for best female actress on the name of “Marcello Mastroyani” at the Venetian festival. In this film by Lee Chang-Dong there are two different beginnings colliding: The ultimate social- reality, cruel and hopeless collides with the fantasy of the folklore, formed by the imagination. Gong-ju is a young girl with a serous form of disability. In spite of that she experiences a reckless and strange love story with Jong-du Hong (starring Kyung-gu Sol) - a total outsider, just freed from jail and rejected by his family. While waiting, she- who speaks totally understandable - always imagines totally unreal pictures. Her dreams transform into glamorous butterflies from yellow light that are fly around her and fondle her with the invisible waft of their wings. Than they fly around her and her beloved while they are dancing on the rhythm performed by suddenly appeared Indian musicians…

The sequence from “Oasis” provokes the mind, repeats like a main idea and develops itself during the whole movie. She cuts unexpectedly with her glamour and elegance the gray hopelessness of the script and the distressing frame reality. But why, why exactly these butterflies? Are they a carrier of the wish, the yearning to be someone else? If you have read Zhuang Zi you can immediately make the association with the butterfly of knowledge, which appears in his dream, because it is a core dao symbol. For the Korean culture it is something more, because it is traditional male symbol, a symbol (together with the flower) of the relations between a man and a woman. It is also written in the old pages of “Samgunniusa” (1281) where the relation between the Shila’s queen Sondok and the Tan emperor is described. Like in “Oasis” and in other Korean movies (and South Asian as a whole) the preserving of the symbols is a fact.

For example let’s look at the water symbol, which has a constant presence in every Asian movie. Remember the rains of Akira Kurosawa, the drops and lakes of Zhiang Ymou, in the Korean cinema the water takes place as a compulsory object. An object where Love and Death appear most strongly and most often. Water - as a see, ocean, lake, river, rain even… In the Korean films it often becomes a mediator, a relation between love and death. In “Il Mare” directed by Lee Hyung-Seng, the two lovers meet in a splendid villa built in the sea. The whole situation is very strange, because the love contact is not physical, but… epistolary. The boy and the girl find each other and fall in love thanks to an entangled brief received in the villa. Then they find out that the reality for him is in the year 2000 and she lives in the year 2002. Moreover, her love can prevent his future/past death (depends of the point of view), she could go trough the barrier of time. In another film - “Secret tears” by Park Ki-hiong (2000), during poring rain the main character hits a girl and so the whole love story begins. Let’s not talk about favourite “Island” (2000) by Kim Ki-Douk. There are some things you can’t explain - they must be seen. Besides, “Island” deserves detailed analysis, and that is a subject of a different theoretical work.

From visual point of view the water spaces and the presence of water- they are not only a symbol, but also organized matter in the Asian cinema. There is no equal image in the history of the seventh art. In this case Korean movies don’t make an exception. Of course the source, the spring of the aesthetics of the picture of the seascape (whether with brush and Indian ink, or camera and silver celluloid) is the traditional dogma of the classical Chinese pictorial. Because, as it is written in Zavadskaia’s book “Aesthetical problems in the pictorial of old China”: “the pictorial will not be the same without the reflection in the water mirror” 5. Besides, in the Korean cinema counts the rule, that nature is the speaker of the spiritual condition of the characters. The contribution from the critics, that “…Kim Ki-Douk (In “Spring, summer… “ – Me) shoots beautiful pictures as if they are for a calendar, makes artistically mass cinema so spread for the directors who have no ambition in the genre” 6 is a bit unnatural. A detail- before becoming a director Kim was a painter…

It is very interesting to see how a symbol works in several different movies, either national Eastern productions or co-productions, most often with the participation of Western film companies. Some of the symbols are intentionally decoded to an excessively described from the point of view of a person well grounded with the East. On the other side the stay readable and recognizable to the Asian audience. The question is how much these effects the producing, distributing and perception of the Korean movies in Europe.

As Karl Baumgartner says “… there is no difference in the producing process – it is the same everywhere. The biggest difference is in the cinema culture. These are even civilization difference, from which come other relations between the people. Look at how many religions came from Asia, how many different types of art there are there, which no matter how ancient are, are still contemporary. Take for example architecture, calligraphy - I think that this strongly influences Eastern cinema. It affects the reasoning of the film idea, the producing, realizing and distributing. Or take into consideration that strange Asian view to the detail, which is different from the Western view. Inevitably and not on last spot we must mention the essential philosophy differences, commensurate with the difference between a Buddhist and a Christian. The way to look at life is one in Asia and another for the people of the old continent.”

The idea of intentional reconstruction of the knowledge turns out to be very useful for the Korean cinema from ethical, aesthetical and commercial point of view. From one side what is shown on the screen is close and known by the audience from the Asian region, easy for transforming by the directors. On the outer side – it is acceptably exotic, elusive and beautiful for the Western audience. The traditional culture is transformed into diachronic plan – it is translation or modern reading, flexible adaptation to the modern trends and it allows polysemantic interpreting.

For example in “Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring” by Kim Ki-Douk the main character may be not understandable, when in the episode “winter”, in the freezing cold he goes out half naked, ties the stone on his back and begins climbing the mountain hill. And this is not enough – he carries a Buddha-statue in his hands. The global idea of suffer, which is caused by the influence of the material world – reaching the spiritual perfection through suffering, varieties between dim and clear. The shades speak for themselves, when it becomes obvious that it is not just an ordinary Buddha-statue, but also a quite popular image of Buddha Maitreya 7 and moreover the realization of correct associations with Korean Buddhist-doctrine. The movie language also becomes an object for the sacral influence – there is no other way. The tradition in the East is so strong, that it also influences the sequence itself.

Kim Ki-Douk’s movies are usually not that popular in Korea and he is often considered a shocking author. Here is what his producer says about him – Baumgartner:

“No, I wouldn’t say they do not understand him. It is just that… See, a Korean director needs his movies to be shown all over the world, that is why he is happy if he finds a producer from abroad who is interested in him. Of course it doesn’t mean that if I weren’t the producer, Kim wouldn’t make the movie. However when “Pandora film” supports him and invests more funds, the movie manages to gain more profits. This is also because we help with the marketing, sales and distribution of the film. It is better when Eastern cinema has a Western partner- a company or a producer that has a serious and approved name in the business – that is aware of the rules of the West and the Western market. Kim Ki-Douk works great without us. “Samaria” got the prize for directing at the festival in Berlin even though we haven’t produced that movie. And the film is brilliant! “Pandora film” however produces and works on Kim Ki-Douk’s next movie. Briefly - not that Kim Ki-Douk is not valued or respected in Korea – it is just that he needs money. That is why he needs partners abroad. When he presented to us the project for “Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring” we liked it – it is so different from his previous work. In my opinion it is more accessible and popular. I really liked the script – the experiences, the life of a monk on a dessert island in the middle of a lake. A great story for the human’s growth told through the four seasons. Here is another different Kim Ki-Douk movie, and yet in his own style. All his work is spinning up the thematic swirl of guilt and forgiveness. For me Kim Ki-Douk is very talented. A very quick director, which is a problem sometimes, because he wants to tell so many stories. All of them are moving in his mind and it seems he won’t have the time to tell them in the movies. At the same time Kim couldn’t make movies all the time. It won’t be good for the market at the first place. There would be over saturation. You can imagine – there couldn’t be three Kim Ki-Douk movies presented in Germany in one year. There is no way. Kim should work slower.”

At the end I want to make a more detailed visualized and associative analysis of a moment in episode “winter” from the Korean movie “Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring” . Before that, I’m going to remind you the poem “Prologue to the Flower” by Kim Chwunswu 8:

          I am now a dangerous beast.
          As soon as my hands touch you,
          You become the distant darkness of the unknown.

          At the end of the shaking branches of being
          You namelessly
          Blossom and wither

          In the darkness of this obscurity soaked at the edge
          of the eyelids
          I set a plate of memories on fire
          And cry all night.

          My tears will turn into a sudden nightly whirlwind
          And shaking the pagoda
          Will penetrate the stone and become a crack.

          … Oh my bride with hidden face.

And so - our monk, who has seen a lot both in his spiritual and social life – we see this in the first three episodes: spring, summer, fall. The monk (by the way the part is played by Kim himself which is his acting debut) is in the cloister again, the same one in which his path began: a small pavilion, in the middle of a crystal lake, frozen by the breath of cold, surrounded by snowy mountains – a Korean symbol. The association of this analysis came from the end of the poem “…Oh my bride with hidden face.”

In Kim Ki-Douk`s movie there is a visualized quotation of the poem’s lines.

In a winter’s night, sliding on the lake’s surface, a woman, with a 2-3 year old child, comes to the monk. A woman that strongly reminds the monk of another one who passed through the seasons of his life - …As soon as monk hands touch her, / She become the distant darkness of the unknown. Or perhaps she is completely different. It is left for the viewers’ imagination. The woman is hidden behind a sheer and thin scarf, which is so stretched on her face, which we are trying to guess by the lines of the relief, drawing her beauty in the book straining through the scarf. The scarf itself transforms the woman’s face into the mystery and the absolute of the mask. The mask, which both hides something and shows other things. And scarf mummificates her, keeps the expression in a specified way. The monk gives the woman a shelter. She is …at the end of the shaking branches of being (she is) Blossomed and withered - at the same time – and namelessly.

She sleeps with her child next to her on the same matting, on which he had made love in the episode “Summer”. He is watching her while she is sleeping.

He says nothing, but as if his lips are whispering: “In the darkness of this obscurity soaked at the edge of the eyelids / I set a plate of memories on fire / And cry all night.”

The stone Buddha (not Buddha Maitrea - another) statue contemplates both of them. He falls asleep. She wakes up. She cries. Too dark violet spots follow on the face in the scarf; tracks of eyes, which do not exist as senses, which are purposely taken away, which can not stop and dry the pain.

She says nothing, but as if her lips are whispering: “In the darkness of this obscurity soaked at the edge of the eyelids / I set a plate of memories on fire / And cry all night.”

The woman`s crying turn into a sudden nightly whirlwind / And shaking the pagoda / Will penetrate the stone and become a crack.

In the dark night she runs away leaving her child behind, but she falls in a hole, a crack in the ice. She drown. The monk find her in the morning as a frozen violet flower. Takes her out. And removes the silk scarf from face “…Oh my bride with hidden face.” But her face remains a secret. Only the monk sees it. The stone Buddha Statue, with a clear and mysteriously smiling face is placed on the ice on the violet scarf of the woman.

Whether Kim Ki-Douk knows the poetry of Kim Chwunswu? May be. But it doesn’t matter.

1 http://www.koreasociety.org/KS_curriculum/GKK/08-Hyangsoon_Yi-CoreanCinema.pdf

2 The interview with Karl Baumgartner was taken on March, 2004 in Sofia, when the producer presented the film of Kim Ki-Douk during 8. International Sofia Film Fest. The full text of the interview as well as the detailed presentation of Pandora Film are published at the only Russian website on Asian cinema www.cinemasia.ru. Look at www.cinemasia.ru/docs/sections/3/_25/_7/257.html

3 Taken from my study “Asia on the Bulgarian screen”, presented at the international conference “Cinema in the cultural dialogue of the Balkans”, organized by the film section “Institute of Art Studies” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, October 2003, Plovdiv
The data is taken from the catalogues of Kostadin Kostov in Bulgarian National Cinemateque:
“Каталог на репертоара на кината в София – хронологичен указател 1908 – 1914г.”, Пловдив, 1966;
“Азбучен указател на игралните филми прожектирани в България от 1908 до 09.ІХ.1944г.,Каталог из репертоара на пловдивските кина, азбучник по държави”, Българска национална филмотека, 1981;
“Каталог за репертоара на кината в София – ІІ част на азбучен указател на заглавията и филмите за периода 1908 – 1930 г. (нямо кино), ІІ раздел – азбучен указател на филмите по държави и производители”, Българска национална филмотека, 1967.
“Библиография на киното в българския периодичен печат до 09.ІХ.1944”, ІІІ том, Пловдив, 1979.

4 Tatiana Grigorieva “Dao logos – meeting of cultures”, p.56
Григорьева, Татяна, “Дао и логос – встреча култур”, Москва, Наука – главная редакция восточной литературы, 1992, 56 стр.

5 Evguenia Zavadskaia’s book “Aesthetical problems in the pictorial of old China”, p.69
Завадская, Е. В. „Эстетические проблемыживописи старого Китая”, Москва, Наука, 1975, стр.69

6 From article by Zara Abdoulaeva “In City S” , mag. “Izkustvo kino”, vol. 11, 2003, p.79
Абдулаева Зара “В города S.”, сп.”Изскуство кино”, бр.11, 2003г., стр.79

7 Buddha Maitrea – this is the fifth and last Earth Buddha, who is expected to come in the future. Essence of the all loving love. His cult is especially developed in the Tibethian and Mongolian Buddhism. The statue mentioned is very popular bronze figure from the Shila Dynasty, VII century. The Shila Dynasty in Korea lasts from the VII till the IX century.

8 Translated from Korean into English by Spas Rangelov
The Bulgarian translation taked from aricle by Boyko Pavlov
Павлов, Бойко, статия “Традиционните символи в съвременната корейска поезия: опит за надникване в поетичния свят на Ким Чхун-Су”, сборник “Студии по кореистика”, съст. Куон Джин Чой, С., Университетско издателство “Св. Кл.Охридски”, 1998

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Cyrillic alphabet

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20. Цигова, Бойка, статия “Хайку и шиджо – типология на дзен-поетичната изразност”, сборник “Студии по кореистика”, съст. Куон Джин Чой, С., Университетско издателство “Св. Кл.Охридски”, 1998
21. Киреева, Л.И., статия “Пейзажная живопись Чон Сона (Кёмдже)”, сбрник “Корейское класическое искусство”, Москва, Наука 1972
22. Завадская, Е., В., статия “Изображение и слово” (Стихи живописи особый жанр китайской поезии), сборник “Жанры и стили литераутр Китая и Кореи”, отв.ред. Вахтин, Б.Б, Москва, Наука, 1969

The catalogues of Kostadin Kostov in Bulgarian National Cinemateque:

1. “Азбучен указател на игралните филми прожектирани в България от 1908 до 09.ІХ.1944г.,Каталог из репертоара на пловдивските кина, азбучник по държави”, Българска национална филмотека, 1981;
2. “Библиография на киното в българския периодичен печат до 09.ІХ.1944”, ІІІ том, Пловдив, 1979.
3. “Каталог за репертоара на кината в София – ІІ част на азбучен указател на заглавията и филмите за периода 1908 – 1930 г. (нямо кино), ІІ раздел – азбучен указател на филмите по държави и производители”, Българска национална филмотека, 1967.
4. “Каталог на репертоара на кината в София – хронологичен указател 1908 – 1914г.”, Пловдив, 1966;

INTERNET

1. http:///www.gzt.ru/rub.gzt?rubric+reviu&id=59050000000007078
2. http://cineasie.com
3. http://cinekorea.com
4. http://imdb.com
5. http://kinoart.ru
6. http://koreanfilm.org/
7. http://koreanfilm.org/bibliography.html
8. http://www.cinemasia.ru/docs/sections/3/_25/_7/257.html
9. http://www.cinemasia.ru/docs/sections/3/_26/_4/264.html
10. http://www.koreanfilm.org/ithurts.html
11. http://www.koreasociety.org/KS_curriculum/GKK/08-Hyangsoon_Yi-KoreanCinema.pdf
12. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/7/arrested.html.
13. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/19/kim_ki-duk.html

FILMOGRAPHY

“Korean harbors” (1911)

“The honor of the Korean” (1911)

“Island” (South Korea, 2000, 86 min, UK-89 min, Color, Dolby SR)
International English title also “The Isle”
Original title: “Seom”
Directed and screenplay by: Kim Ki-Douk
Producer: Lee Eun
Cinematography: Hwang Seo-Shik
Musik: Jeon Sang-yun
Cast: Suh Jung (Hee-Jin), Kim Yoosuk (Hyun-Shik), Park Sung-hee (Eun-A), Jo Jae-Hyeon (Mang-Chee)
Awards:
Brussels International Film Festival of Fantasy Film 2001– Golden Raven – Kim Ki-Douk;
Cinemanila International Film Festival 2001 – Best Actres - Suh Jung;
Fantasporto 2001 – International Fantasy Film Award - Best Actres - Suh Jung, International Fantasy Film Special Jury Award - Kim Ki-Douk;
Venice Film festival 2000 - Netpac Award - Special Mention, Kim Ki-Douk, nomination for Golden Lion

“Secret Tears” (South Korea, 2000, 105 min, Color)
Original title: “Bimil”
Directed and screenplay by: Park Ki-Hyung
Producer: Park Ki-Hyung
Cinematography: Mun Yong-shik
Musik: Kim Kyu-yang
Cast: Kim Seung-woo (Ku-ho), Yun Mi-jo (Mi-jo), Jeong Hyeon-woo (Hyeon-nam)
Awards:
Catalonian International Film Festival 2001– Best film - Park Ki-Hyung;
Fantasporto 2001 – International Fantasy Film Award – nomination for best film - Park Ki-Hyung;
Rotteedam International Film Festival 2001 – nomination for Tiger Award - Park Ki-Hyung

“Il Mare” (South Korea, 2002, 105, Color)
Original title: “Siworae”
Directed : Lee Hyun-Seung
Screenplay by: Yeo Ji-na
Cinematography: Hong Kyung-Pyo
Musik: Kim Hyeon-Cheol
Cast: Lee Jung-Jae (Han Sung-hyun), Kim Mu-saeng (Kim Eun-ju)

“Oasis” (South Korea, 2002, 132 min, Color, Dolby Digital)
Original title: “Oasis”
Directed and screenplay by: Lee Chang-Dong
Producer: Cho Min-Cheul
Cinematography: Choi Yeong-taek
Musik: Lee Jae-jin
Cast: Sol Kyung-gu (Hong Jong-du), Moon So-ri (Gong-ju), Ahn Nae-sang (Hong Jong-il), Ryoo Seung-wan (Hong Jong-sae)
Awards:
Bergen film Festival 2002– Jury award – Honorable mention;
Seattle International Film Festival 2003 - Golden Space Needle Award for best actress and best actor;
Vancouver Internatinal Film festival 2002 - Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award for Lee Chang-Dong;
Venice Film festival 2002 - FIPRESCI Prize For the audacity and courage of its imaginitive exploration of the difficulties of communication, and for its remarkable actors - Lee Chang-Dong; Marcello Mastroianni Award - Moon So-ri; SIGNIS Award - Lee Chang-Dong; Special Director's Award; nomination for Golden Lion

“Spring, summer, fall, winter and spring” (South Korea, 2003, 103min, Color, Dolby Digital)
Original title: “Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom”
Seom”
Directed and screenplay by: Kim Ki-Douk
Producer: Karl Baumgartner
Cinematography: Baek Dong-Hyeon
Cast: Oh Yeong-su (Old Monk), Kim Ki-Douk (adult Monk), Seo Jae-kyeong (the boy monk), Ha Yeo-jin (The girl) , Kim Jung-ho (Child Monk), Park Ji-a (The baby`s Mother)
Awards:
Bangkok International Film Festival 2004 – Nomination Golden Kinnaree Award – Kim Ki-Douk;
European Film awards 2003 – Nomination Screen International Award – Kim Ki-Douk
Golden Satellite awards 2004 – Nomination for Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language
Locarno International Film Festival 2003 - C.I.C.A.E. Award, Don Quixote Award, Netpac Award, Youth Jury Award – Kim Ki-Douk, nomination for Golden Leopard
San Sebastian International Film Festival 2003 - Audience Award - Kim Ki-Douk

Andronika Martonova is a Ph.D.-student in The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) – Institute of Art Studies, departments “Cinema and TV”
Assistant in National Academy of Theatre & Film Art “Krustyo Sarafov” – Film & TV criticism, history and aesthetics of asian cinema