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Two months ago, KIM Ki-duk pulled off an unprecedented feat as his 18th feature Pieta picked up the Golden Lion prize at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, the first time that a Korean film has won the first prize at one of the world’s top three film festivals (along with Berlin and Cannes). KIM’s film quickly followed up its historic win with high-profile appearances at the Toronto, Busan and Sitges Film Festivals, as well as accumulating a slew of nominations and wins at Korean film awards, including the DAEJONG Film Awards, the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards (KAFC), and next week’s Blue Dragon Awards. It was also selected as Korea’s official entry to the foreign-language category of next year’s 84th Academy Awards.

 

Following all this success, far be it from going quietly into the night, Pieta has become a dominant presence on the fall festival circuit, having already been booked at over two-dozen events. In November alone it has 14 festivals on its itinerary.

 

It kicked off the month with the American Film Institute festival, for which KIM was in attendance, tthen moving on to the Stockholm International Film Festival (7-18 November), the Bratislava International Film Festival (9-15 November), and the Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (17-20 November) before serving as the closing film of the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (2-18 November).

 

As for festivals that are currently underway, Pieta will screen at the Brisbane International Film Festival (14-25 November), the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival (17-25 November), Tokyo FILMeX (November 23–December 2), the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (12-28 November), and the International Film Festival of India (20-30 November), for which KIM will also make an appearance.

 

It will close out the month with the soon to start Filmasia (November 30 – December 2) in the Czech Republic and the Auteur Film Festival in Belgrade (November 28 – December 4). Also this month, the film will compete at 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which are taking place today in Brisbane, where CHO Min-soo is up for Best Actress.

 

With all these festival dates and awards, not to mention the 600,000 spectators who saw the film domestically, Pieta is quickly becoming one of Korea’s most successful independent films. Following a flurry of sales to overseas territories at the American Film Market, hopes are high for its potential to perform well internationally beyond the festival circuit.