Film archive to hold Kim Ki-young retrospective

The Korean Film Archive will host a week-long retrospective of influential writer-director Kim Ki-young’s films at its screening center, the Cinematheque KOFA, from July 27-Aug. 1.

Known for his “nyeoh,” meaning “women,” involved in taboo subject matters such as extra-marital affairs and crimes of passion, the late auteur’s works were largely unknown and ignored until the 1990s.

One year before Kim and his wife were tragically killed in a blaze at their home, a career retrospective at the 1997 iteration of the Pusan International Film Festival sparked renewed interest in his films.

The program proved to be a huge success in attracting international interest as his films subsequently made the rounds at international film festivals.

In 2008, a digitally restored and re-mastered print of Kim’s most representative film “The Housemaid” was screened at the world’s most prestigious movie gala, the Cannes International Film Festival.

When it was first released to local audiences in 1960, the story of an upper middle-class family undone by a husband and father’s extra-marital affair with his housemaid proved to be a hit with both critics and audiences alike.