South Korea’s M-Line Distribution has secured world sales rights to Walking In The Movies, a documentary about Korean film industry pioneer Kim Dong-ho, ahead of its premiere at Cannes.
The film, which will screen as part of the Cannes Classics strand of the upcoming festival, is a portrait of a man often called the godfather of the Korean film industry who has spent his life and career serving cinema.
Kim was a co-founder of Busan International Film Festival and spent 15 years there as festival director, helping it weather periods of political turbulence.
Filmed over a year from February 2023, the documentary travels to important places in Kim’s life such as the Busan Cinema Center, Seoul Arts Center, Cannes Film Festival and Busan Port. It includes scenes of him speaking with residents in his hometown of Gwanju and interviews with directors Lee Chang-dong, Lee Jeong-hyang, Shin Su-won and Japanese Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda alongside actors Park Jeong-ja and Zo In-sung. Narration is provided by actress Ye Ji-won.
The documentary is directed by Lyang Kim, marking her fourth feature after Forbidden Fatherland, Resident Forever and Dream House By The Border, which each explored anthropological and geopolitical themes.
Walking In The Movies is co-produced by director Kim’s Busan-based Zone Film and Kookje Daily News with the participation of Busan’s Committee for Local Press.
Now in his mid-80s, Kim began his career at Korea’s then-named Ministry of Culture and Communication. After holding various managerial positions, he was named president of the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation (now Korean Film Council) in 1988.
Having served as the guest director of the Seoul Arts Center in 1992, he became vice minister of culture and director of the Korea Media Rating Board the following year. Kim co-founded BIFF in 1996, developing it into Asia’s leading film event and retained the title of honorary festival director after he retired in 2010.
He was next named director of the newly created Graduate School of Cinematic Content at Dankook University and established film production company Tiger Cinema in 2012 to help finance the graduate films of its students, with Lotte Entertainment as the main investor. This led to him executive producing several critically acclaimed films, such as 10 Minutes in 2014, End Of Winter in 2016 and The Seeds Of Violence in 2017.
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