Im Kwon-taek임권택

Im Kwon-taek (임권택), born on December 8, 1934 in Jangseong County and raised in Gwangju, is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. He moved to Seoul in 1956, made his directorial debut in 1962 with Farewell to the Duman River, and by spring 2015 had directed 102 films. Before 1980 he was known mainly as a commercial filmmaker who could direct as many as eight genre pictures a year; Wikipedia calls the 1981 film Mandala the turning point after which his films were regarded as art-house cinema.¹

Seopyeonje (서편제, 1993) was the first domestic film to draw over a million viewers in Seoul alone. Chihwaseon (취화선, Chi-hwa-seon, 2002) earned him Korea's first Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, and he received an Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2005. His 100th film, Beyond the Years, came in April 2007, the year France made him a knight of the Legion of Honour, and a museum dedicated to him opened in Busan in 2013.¹⁴

In DabPop's Best Film archives he is the leading director at the Grand Bell Awards, with five wins (The Hidden Hero, Diary of King Yeonsan, Come Come Come Upward, Fly High Run Far and Seopyeonje, a count made from the table), and one of three directors with four Best Film wins at the Blue Dragon Film Awards, for Seopyeonje, The Taebaek Mountains, Festival and Chi-hwa-seon.²³