'Cinema can also be defined as craftsmanship': Director

By Musa Alcan

ISTANBUL (AA) - We can define cinema as both art and entertainment, but I add craftsmanship to the definition, a renowned Korean director said at the 7th Bosphorus Film Festival in Turkey's metropolitan Istanbul.

As an honored guest, Kim Ki Duk said: "Cinema is the most important thing in my life.

The thing that pushes me the most and that takes most of my time is to write the script. It is also the most exciting and pleasing thing".

The master representative of South Korean cinema -- who had 32 productions since 1996 and also directed 25 of them -- attended the masterclass program of the festival organized by the International Bosphorus Cinema Association (IBCA).

Stressing that he had no formal cinema education, Kim said he used to work in factories when he was a teenager.

"Within that period, I always hoped that the conditions would help me improve, and I prayed for it.

"At that time, painting and taking pictures were the only things I could do, but I always dreamed of a better life," he added.

Kim said he voluntarily joined the army at the age of 20, and served at the naval forces for five years, adding that he went to France when he turned 30, and started earning money by drawing portraits of people on the road.

"While I was there, the movies Silence of the Lambs and The Lovers on the Bridge [Les amants du Pont-Neuf] surprised me and made me think differently.

From that moment, I thought about writing scripts, not that I knew how to write screenplays, but started writing what came to my mind right away," he added.

Each movie has its own process starting with the idea of producing that movie, Kim said, adding: "The decision to make the movie 'Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom [Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring]' was based on snow at the top of a mountain. There was no script.

"I created the movie over five pages of notes. No one on the team worked knowing what the upcoming scene was. After shooting one scene, they were waiting for me while I was thinking about the next scene".

He said he was inspired of a brochure he saw to make "Bin-jip [3-Iron]", while the idea of "Seom [The Isle]" came when he was on a bus trip to a mountainous forest with small houses.

Kim also performed a Korean Folk Song, "Arirang," both in its traditional style and in his own version.

The International Bosphorus Film Festival, organized by the IBCA aims to in Turkey and also around the world, to provide of a contribution to the development of ethics, aesthetics and technical cohesive movies, the funding and motivation in the creation to young producers and directors for producing new films, and to promote the country's cinema in the country and abroad.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur