LEE Chang-dong, born in 1954, directed only a few feature films in his career, but they were more than enough to earn him the status of a representative auteurist director of Korea. After majoring in Korean Language Education in 1981, he was teaching Korean in high school and writing novels in his spare time. His novelist career started in earned when short novel is <Military Advantage> won the annual literary contest held by Donga Ilbo newspaper in 1983. He later picke...More

LEE Chang-dong, born in 1954, directed only a few feature films in his career, but they were more than enough to earn him the status of a representative auteurist director of Korea. After majoring in Korean Language Education in 1981, he was teaching Korean in high school and writing novels in his spare time. His novelist career started in earned when short novel is <Military Advantage> won the annual literary contest held by Donga Ilbo newspaper in 1983. He later picked up the Literary Award from the Hankook Ilbo newspaper in 1992 for <Nokcheon Has Fields of Shit>. He made a transition to being a screenwriter when PARK Kwang-su asked him to pen the script for <To The Starry Island> (1993), to which LEE agreed in exchange for a position as assistant director. The two collaborated again on <A Single Spark> (1995), for which LEE received Best Screenplay at the Baeksang Arts Awards. LEE then debuted as a director with <Green Fish> (1997), which earned him Best Picture and Best Director at the Blue Dragon Film Awards, on top of Best Screenplay at the Grand Bell Awards. His subsequent movies, <A Peppermint Candy> (2000) and <Oasis> (2002), brought him international attention as a director, such as the Silver Lion for Best Director in Venice for <Oasis>. LEE’s appointment to the position of Minister of Culture from 2003 to 2004 earned him the nickname of “Korean André Malraux” in the overseas media. After resigning from the position, he directed <Secret Sunshine> (2007), which screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. With the production house Pinehouse Film he established with his brother LEE Joon-dong in 2005, he also produced and co-penned the first official Korea-France coproduction, <A Brand New Life> (2009), from French filmmaker Ounie LECOMTE. LEE’s <Poetry> (2010) was also presented in Cannes, earning him Best Screenplay. LEE then produced two acclaimed feature debuts from up-and-coming women filmmakers, July JUNG’s <A Girl at My Door> (2014) and YOON Ga-eun’s <The World of Us> (2016), and co-planned <A Single Rider> (2017), which was co-produced by Warner Bros Korea. In 2018, he came back on the director’s chair with <BURNING>, a loose adaptation of MURAKAMI Haruki’s short story <Barn Burning>. Selected for the main competition in Cannes, it won the FIPRESCI Prize and also had the honor of being the highest-rated Cannes film ever in Screen Daily’s jury grid (with a score of 3.8 out of 4). It was also later included in several decade-end top lists, including the ones compiled by the Associated Press and Indiewire. Lee returned to production duties for <Birthday> (2018), the feature debut of his former assistant Lee Jongun, which revolves around a bereaved family who lost their son to the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster.Less