Call of God. Tribute to Kim Ki-duk
All of us at PÖFF are extremely grateful – especially to all the Estonian partners and funders involved – for being able to pay tribute to the late maestro of cinema, Kim-Ki-Duk, whose “Call of God” premiered two months ago at the world’s oldest film festival in Venice.
We present to you, dear Estonian audience, an out-of-competition screening of this exceptional melodrama about human relationships, which contains disturbing footage directed and filmed by Kim-Ki-Duk.
For me, this screening will be a very personal one, since being a member of the PÖFF Jury in 2004 I had the pleasure to hand over to him the main award for his masterpiece “3-Iron” (“Bin-Jip”). Remembering our time together in Busan, dear KKD, I must say that you are truly missed by the international cinephile community! So I would like to close my film introduction with your own statement: “The closer they are to death, the more humans miss and reminisce about their youth. I miss my twenties, although I made many mistakes in my youth. So, if I go back to that time, I really want to do good. But life never comes back.”
Niki Nikitin
Kim Ki-duk As a young man, Kim Ki-duk worked at a factory, was a sailor, and spent five years in the army. A characteristic feature of his films is the blending of extreme violence and romance. In the first decade of the 21st century, Kim Ki-duk became the most highly valued South Koren filmmaker whose works were appreciated at festivals by both the audiences and the critics. His masterpiece “3-Iron” won four prizes in Venice in 2004 and was selected the Best Film of 2005 by FIPRESCI. Both “3-Iron” and “The Bow” (screened in 2005) earned the Audience Award at PÖFF. His 2012 film „Pietà” won the Golden Lion for Best Film in Venice and was also screened at PÖFF. In total, Ki-duk directed and wrote about 30 full-length films. The director died in Riga in 2020.
Filmography
Valik/Selected: Seom (2000, Saar PÖFF 2001), Na bbun nam ja (Bad Guy, 2001), Soochwieen bodmyung (2001, Aadress teadmata PÖFF 2002), Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Kevad, suvi, sügis, talv ... ja kevad, 2003), Samaria (Samaaria tüdruk, PÖFF 2004), Bin jip (Tühi maja, PÖFF 2004), Hwal (Vibu, PÖFF 2005), Shi gan (Aeg, PÖFF 2006), Soom (Breath, 2007), Bi-mong (Dream, 2008), Arirang (PÖFF 2011, doc), Amen (2011, doc), Pietà (PÖFF 2012), Moebius (Möbius, PÖFF 2013), Ildaeil 8One on One, 2014), Seu-top (Stop, 2015), Geumul (The Net, 2016), Inkan, gongkan, sikan grigo inkan (Human, Space, Time and Human, 2018)