Im Sang-soo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a Korean name; the family name is Im.

Im Sang-soo

Born	April 27, 1962 (1962-04-27) (age 46) Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1989—present

Korean name

Hangul	임상수
Hanja	林相洙
Revised Romanization	Im Sang-su
McCune-Reischauer	Im Sang-su

Im Sang-soo (born April 27, 1962 in Seoul) is an award winning South Korean film director and screenwriter.

Im studied sociology at Seoul's Yonsei University before making a move to The Korean Academy of Film Arts in 1989. He began working in film that same year, landing his first job as Park Jeong-won's assistant director on Kuro Arrirang (was coincidentally also the first film of Choi Min-sik, who also acted in Shiri and Oldboy).

1 Film career
2 Controversy
3 Filmography
4 Awards
5 References and footnotes
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Film career

Following graduation from the Academy of Film Arts, Im worked as an assistant director under Kim Young-bin on Kim's War (1994). In 1995 Im wrote the screenplay for The Eternal Empire, and also the screenplay A Noteworthy Film, which won him the Creation Prix at the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Scenario Competition.

In 1998 Im landed his first directorial gig. Girls' Night Out, a drama about three women in Korea, caused a controversy upon release due to the frank and sexually driven dialogue and has received mixed, almost polarized, reviews.

Tears, a hard drama about the lives of 4 runaway teenagers in Seoul, came next. Im spent five months in the Garibong-dong district of Seoul amongst homeless runaway teens before writing the script for the film. This film was shot in 2000 on miniDV to save the budget. Im opted to not use actors for the roles for a greater reality of the piece.

2003's A Good Lawyer's Wife was Im's first film to reach #1 at the South Korean box office, thanks in large part to the suggestive poster and trailer campaign and star Moon So-ri (who was cast after Kim Hye-soo dropped out to pursue a TV career). This film was also screened in the main competition program at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival.

Next in Im's string of controversial films was 2005's The President's Last Bang, about the night President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his CIA Director. The controversy started before it was released to the public (a press screening had already been held), with President Park's family suing MK Pictures over the films content. A Korean court ordered the removal of 3 minutes and 50 seconds worth of documentary footage from the film as it was thought the documentary footage might confuse the public into thinking the film was based on hard facts, which Im admits is not the case.

The Old Garden, Im's fifth film, will see theatrical release in fall 2006. It debuted at the 2006 San Sebastian Film Festival. Early 2007 will see Im's 6th film, entitled A Good Woman in Paris, begin production. It has been described, appropriately enough, as "A Good Lawyer's Wife in Paris".

[edit] Controversy

All of Im's films have been controversial, but his film The President's Last Bang, centered on the assassination of Korean President Park Chung Hee, has been the most controversial due to its negative portrayal of the President Park Chung-hee. In 2005 a South Korean court ordered the removal of 3 minutes and 50 seconds of the film before it could be shown to the public. The offending scenes were made up of documentary footage, part of which showed President Park's funeral.

In August 2006 this ruling was overturned, with the court issuing the following statement: "We must broadly confirm the right of free expression concerning the depiction of public historical figures." The court has also ordered MK Pictures, the production company that financed the film, to pay President Park's family 100 million won (roughly $105,000 USD)^[1].

The film has been released in South Korea and America on DVD in 2005. Both discs contain a plain black screen where the footage was removed. There has been no release date set for a DVD containing the cut footage.

[edit] Filmography

Girls' Night Out (처녀들의 저녁식사) (1998)
Tears (눈물) (2000)
A Good Lawyer's Wife (바람난 가족) (2003)
The President's Last Bang (그때 그사람들) (2005)
The Old Garden (오래된 정원) (2006)
A Good Woman in Paris (Production begins early 2007)

[edit] Awards

A Noteworthy Film

1995, Creation Prix at the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Scenario Competition

Tears (눈물)

2000, FIPRESCI Prize - Special Mention (For its ability to put real life on screen, and its extraordinary performances) at the Pusan International Film Festival

A Good Lawyer's Wife (바람난 가족)

2003, Best Actress (Moon So-ri) at the Stockholm Film Festival
2003, Best Cinematography (Kim Woo-hyeong) at the Stockholm Film Festival
2003, Silver Spur Prize at the Flanders International Film Festival
2003, Golden Lion (Nominated, didn't win) at the Venice International Film Festival
2004, Lotus Prize at the Deauville Asian Film Festival
2004, Grand Bell Award at the Grand Bell Awards, South Korea

The President's Last Bang (그때 그사람들)