Biography: Kim Dong-won

A personality who has shown excellent expertise in filmmaking is none other than Kim Dong won. He is a South Korean documentary filmmaker who has given plenty of incredible works to remember. A few of his best workpieces are, “The Six-Day Fight in Myong Dong Cathedral” (short film, 1997), “A Man” (short film, 2001), and “Takken Family” (short film, 2001).

He was born on February 24, 1955, in Seoul, South Korea. He finished his schooling at one of the nearby schools and later went to University for further studies. He graduated from Sogang University successfully, majoring in mass communication. Thereupon, he began his journey in the Film Industry as a commercial director and gave his consistent efforts towards it. Kim was widely recognized for his outstanding works with two prizes at the Korea Advertising Awards. In 1991, he founded the documentary film collective P.U.R.N Production and has produced and directed about thirty documentaries since that time. In 2004, he released a documentary titled “Repatriation” (2004) which highlighted the lives of North Korean spies who were incarcerated in South Korea and showcased their journey on the way back to their homeland after being captivated in the South’s prisons for more than 30 years. This film took over a decade to get finished, and it is counted among the most successful documentary ever in South Korea.

In addition, It earned the Freedom of Expression Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, it was the first time that a Korean film had been honored with an award at the pre-eminent U.S. festival. Not only this, but It also received Special Mention at the 24th Korean Association of Film Critics’ Awards and Special Jury Prize at the 5th Busan Film Critics’ Awards in 2004, including Best Documentary Award at the 19th Fribourg International Film Festival in 2005. In 2005, he gave the comedy blockbuster, ‘My Boss, My Teacher’ which caught immense attention from the viewers. Furthermore, he directed numerous films by being the head of his own film production company Zoomoney Entertainment, such as the City Of Damnation and R2B: Return to Base. Kim has also developed and co-produced IM Sang-soo’s movie i.e. “The Housemaid”. By continuing his journey, he gave again mega-hit movies, “If You Were Me 2” in 2006 and “63 Years On in the same year” which revolved around those women who were captured by the Japanese military in stations throughout Asia during World War II. It earned the title of Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2nd Asia Pacific Screen Awards in 2008.