Kim Tae-yong

Kim Tae-yong (born December 9, 1969) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. After his feature directorial debut Memento Mori (1999), he helmed the critically acclaimed Family Ties (2006), and the English-language remake Late Autumn (2010).

Career

Although he initially wanted to pursue writing, Kim Tae-yong eventually graduated from Yonsei University in 1994 with a major in Politics and Diplomacy. He first became involved in Korean cinema through a friend, who was an assistant director of an independent production. Inspired by the vibrant atmosphere that came with working on a set, Kim then enrolled at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in 1996. He met and became friends with fellow director Min Kyu-dong while at KAFA, where he and his classmates would work on short films as a part of the crew and doing lighting. In 1999, Kim and Min received the offer to direct Memento Mori as a sequel to the horror film Whispering Corridors (1998), and so began Kim’s foray into commercial cinema.

In some ways, Memento Mori might be considered the most influential Korean horror film of the 2000s. Although it was not a box-office hit, the film is frequently cited by young filmmakers and cinema fans as a modern-day classic. At the time of its release and in the intervening years, most critics tended to focus their attention on the other of Memento Mori's co-directors, Min Kyu-dong, however the release of Family Ties in spring 2006 established Kim as a highly regarded filmmaker in his own right. His intimate portrayal of a totally unconventional but non-dysfunctional family garnered multiple domestic and international awards.

Kim's third feature film Late Autumn was a remake of Lee Man-hee's 1966 classic Manchu set in Seattle. It was also critically acclaimed and became the highest-grossing Korean film in China.

Kim then joined the restoration project and re-directed Crossroads of Youth (1934) by "performing" Korea’s oldest known silent film with live narration (by the byeonsa) and musical accompaniment.

Apart from his feature films, Kim has been active in a variety of creative endeavors, from hosting a cinema-themed TV show on EBS to directing plays, shooting documentaries and making cameo appearances (both times as a film director) in the films All for Love (2005) by Min Kyu-dong and Family Matters (2006) by Nam Seon-ho.

Personal life

Kim married Chinese actress Tang Wei on July 12, 2014, in the front yard of the home of film legend Ingmar Bergman on the remote Swedish island of Fårö. A formal wedding ceremony was later held in Hong Kong, with only immediate family members as guests. The couple first met in 2009 when he directed her in the film Late Autumn, and began dating in October 2013 after Tang shot a commercial in Korea. This is the second marriage for Kim; he and his first wife divorced in 2011.

Filmography

Director

• Picnic (short film from Mad Sad Bad, 2014)
• Have a Cup of Tea, or See a Film! (Green Film Festival in Seoul short film, 2013)
• You Are More Than Beautiful (Youku short film, 2012)
• Late Autumn (2010)
• Take Action, Now or Never! (Green Film Festival in Seoul short film, 2009)
• Cinema Paradise (short film, 2008)
• Girl on the Run (short film from If You Were Me 4, 2007)
• Family Ties (2006)
• On the Road, Two (rockumentary on Yoon Do Hyun Band's European tour, 2006)
• Pass Me (short film from Twentidentity, 2004)
• Memento Mori (1999)
• Pale Blue Dot (short film, 1998)
• Free to Fly (short film, 1997)

Screenplay

• You Are More Than Beautiful (Youku short film, 2012)
• Late Autumn (2010)
• Take Action, Now or Never! (Green Film Festival in Seoul short film, 2009)
• Cinema Paradise (short film, 2008)
• Family Ties (2006)
• Memento Mori (1999)
• Pale Blue Dot (short film, 1998)

Actor

• Family Matters (2006) cameo
• All for Love (2005) cameo
• Camellia Project: Three Queer Stories at Bogil Island (2005) cameo

Producer

• 155 Mile (2007)
• Under Construction (2006)

Cinematographer

• Pale Blue Dot (short film, 1998)
• Everything I Got: Marco Polo's View (short film, 1998)

Editor

• Cinema Paradise (short film, 2008)
• Pale Blue Dot (short film, 1998)

Assistant director

• Jury (2013)

Music

• Pale Blue Dot (short film, 1998)

Crew member

• Choked (2011)
• Wannabe (short film, 1998)

• "제10회 서울환경영화제 '10주년영상'". Green Film Festival in Seoul. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-12. 
• Lee, Eun-sun (7 May 2013). "KIM Tae-yong Directs Video to Celebrate 10th Green Film Festival in Seoul". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2013-05-12. 
• Adams, Mark (19 March 2012). "Beautiful 2012". Screen International. Retrieved 2012-11-19. 
• "Stars Shoot to Promote Green Film Festival". KBS Global. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 2012-11-19. 

Television

• Cinema Paradiso (EBS, 1994) host

Theater

• 매혹 "Fascination" (2004) director

Awards and nominations