LATVIA: Controversial South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has died in Latvia from coronavirus complications at the age of 59, a Latvian film official said.
The news was initially reported by Vitaly Mansky, director of Latvia’s Artdocfest film festival, though and later confirmed by Kim’s family in the Korean media. Kim was understood to be developing a film project set in the Baltic region when he became ill.
According to Dita Rietuma, director of Latvia’s state National Film Centre, Kim had been staying in the Latvian capital Riga, in a private capacity after travelling to neighbouring Estonia for work.
Kim earned global praise as a regular at international festivals but also faced criticism especially over his portrayals of women, including in the ultra-violent ‘Pieta’. That film won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.
Born in 1960, Kim made his name with a series of violent yet aesthetically challenging features, including The Isle (2000) and Bad Guy (2001) – the former of which was sanctioned by the British Board of Film Classification for animal cruelty.
His reputation was also damaged by several accusations of rape and sexual harassment by a series of actresses amid the global #MeToo movement.
Kim had not directly responded to those claims, but appealed in November after losing a lawsuit he pursued against one of the actresses and a local TV network that broadcast her accusations.
