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| Filmmaker Kim Ki-duk / Yonhap |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Late director Kim Ki-duk's posthumous film, "Call of God," has been invited to the out-of-competition section of the Venice International Film Festival, which will run from Aug. 31 to Sept. 10.
Kim died from COVID-19-related complications in Latvia in 2020, so the film was completed posthumously by Estonia-based director Artur Veeber. As the two worked on the project together, "Call of God" was classified as a film from Estonia, Kyrgyzstan and Latvia instead of Korea.
While the plot details are unknown, "Call of God" stars Kazakh actors Zhanel Sergazina and Abylai Maratov.
Kim, known for his depiction of extreme violence and dark content, enjoyed his biggest successes at European film festivals although he failed commercially.
In 2004, he won the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival for "Samaritan Girl," a drama about teenage prostitutes. The same year, he won the Silver Lion for best director at the Venice Film Festival for the psychological horror drama "3-Iron."
Kim was awarded the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes Film Festival with "Arirang" in 2011 and won the 2012 Golden Lion for best film at Venice for "Pieta" in 2012.
However, his directing career was derailed in 2017 as he was accused of rape and sexual assault by multiple women amid the #Metoo movement. Instead of apologizing, Kim sued the accusers and MBC, the local broadcaster that had reported the allegations. While a Korean court dismissed one sexual assault charge against him based on the lack of evidence, Kim's reputation was permanently tainted in Korea, so he traveled across Central Asia and the Baltic region until his death.
