Kim Tae-yong

For other people named Kim Tae-yong, see Kim Tae-yong (disambiguation).

In this Korean name, the family name is Kim.

Kim Tae-yong (Korean: 김태용; born December 9, 1969) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. After his feature directorial debut Memento Mori (1999), he helmed the critically-acclaimed Family Ties (2006), and the English-language remake Late Autumn (2010).

Kim Tae-yong
Born	(1969-12-09) December 9, 1969 (age 55) Seoul, South Korea
Education	Yonsei University - Politics and Diplomacy Korean Academy of Film Arts - Filmmaking
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Tang Wei ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	1
Korean name
Hangul	김태용
Hanja	金泰勇
Revised Romanization	Gim Tae-yong
McCune–Reischauer	Kim T'aeyong

Career

Tae-yong graduated from Yonsei University in 1994 with a major in politics and diplomacy, and first became involved in Korean cinema through a friend, who was an assistant director of an independent production. Inspired by the vibrant atmosphere that came with working on a set, Kim then enrolled at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in 1996. He met and became friends with fellow director Min Kyu-dong while at KAFA, where he and his classmates would work on short films as a part of the crew and doing lighting. In 1999, Kim and Min received the offer to direct Memento Mori as a sequel to the horror film Whispering Corridors (1998), and so began Kim’s foray into commercial cinema.

In some ways, Memento Mori might be considered the most influential Korean horror film of the 2000s. Although it was not a box-office hit, the film is frequently cited by young filmmakers and cinema fans as a modern-day classic. At the time of its release and in the intervening years, most critics tended to focus their attention on the other of Memento Mori's co-directors, Min Kyu-dong, however the release of Family Ties in spring 2006 established Kim as a highly regarded filmmaker in his own right. His intimate portrayal of a totally unconventional but non-dysfunctional family garnered multiple domestic and international awards.^[1][2]

Kim's third feature film Late Autumn was a remake of Lee Man-hee's 1966 classic Manchu set in Seattle.^[3][4][5] It was also critically acclaimed and became the highest-grossing Korean film in China.^[6]

Kim then joined the restoration project and re-directed Crossroads of Youth (1934) by "performing" Korea’s oldest known silent film with live narration (by the byeonsa) and musical accompaniment.^[7][8]

Apart from his feature films, Kim has been active in a variety of creative endeavors, from hosting a cinema-themed TV show on EBS to directing plays, shooting documentaries and making cameo appearances (both times as a film director) in the films All for Love (2005) by Min Kyu-dong and Family Matters (2006) by Nam Seon-ho.

Personal life

Kim married Chinese actress Tang Wei on July 12, 2014, in the front yard of the home of film legend Ingmar Bergman on the remote Swedish island of Fårö.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} A formal wedding ceremony was later held in Hong Kong, with only immediate family members as guests.^[14][15][16] The couple first met in 2009 when he directed her in the film Late Autumn, and began dating in October 2013 after Tang shot a commercial in Korea.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Filmography

Feature film

Feature film credits

Year	Title		Credited as			Notes
	English	Korean	Director	Screenplay	Producer
1992	Space police human power [ko]	우주경찰 휴먼 파워	Yes	Yes	No
1995	There is no emergency exit [ko]	비상구가 없다	Yes	Yes	No
1999	Memento Mori	여고괴담 두번째 이야기	Yes[a]	Yes	No	[21][22]
2006	Family Ties	가족의 탄생	Yes	Yes	No	[23][24]
2011	Late Autumn	만추	Yes	Yes	No	[25][26][27]
2011	Choked	가시	No	No	No	Crew member
2024	Wonderland	원더랜드	Yes	Yes	No	[28]

Short film

Film credits

Year	Title		Credited as			Notes
	English	Korean	Director	Screenplay	Producer
1997	Free to Fly	열일곱	Yes[a]	Yes	No	Also editor[29]
1998	Wannabe		No	No	No	Crew Member
1998	Pale Blue Dot	창백한 푸른 점	Yes[a]	Yes	No	Also editor, cinematographer, music[30]
1998	Everything I Got: Marco Polo's View	동방견문록	No	No	No	cinematographer
2003	Engineering—Her Accident	이공—그녀의 사고	Yes	Yes	No	[31]
2005	Digital Short Film Omnibus Project Twentidentity (I-gong) Segment: Pass Me	디지털 단편 옴니버스 프로젝트 이공 - seg. 이 공을 받아줘(Pass Me)	Yes	Yes	No	[32]
2007	155 miles	155 마일	No	No	Yes
	Girl on the Run	달리는 차은	Yes	No	No	short film from If You Were Me 4[33]
2008	Cinema Paradise	시네마 천국	Yes	Yes	No	Also editor[34]
2009	Gaze 1318	시선 1318	Yes	Yes	No	[35]
	Take Action, Now or Never!	모두들 하고 있습니까?	Yes	Yes	No	Green Film Festival in Seoul short film[36]
2011	After All, We're Still in Love	오랜 연인들	Yes	Yes	No	[37]
2012	Right on me	라잇 온 미	No	Script proofreading	No	[38]
	You Are More Than Beautiful	뷰티풀 2012	Yes	No	Yes	Youku short film[39]
2013	Jury	주리	Assistant director	No	No	[40]
	Have a Cup of Tea, or See a Film!	차라도 한 잔, 영화도 한 편!	No	No	Yes	Green Film Festival in Seoul short film, 2013[41][42]
2014	Picnic	신촌좀비만화 - seg. 피크닉	Yes	Yes	No	short film from Mad Sad Bad[43]
	The Wind Will Carry Us	바람이 우리를 데려다 주리라	Yes	Yes	No	2016 15th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival[44]
2015	Her legend	그녀의 전설	Yes	Yes	Yes	[45]

Documentary film

Film credits

Year	Title		Credited as			Notes
	English	Korean	Director	Screenplay	Producer
2006	On the Road, Two	온 더 로드, 투	Yes	No	Yes	rockumentary on Yoon Do Hyun Band's European tour[46]
2016	2016 Film Pansori, Chunhyang	2016 필름 판소리, 춘향뎐	Yes	Yes	No	documentary[47]
2018	Kokdu: A Story of Guardian Angels	꼭두 이야기	Yes	Yes	No	Korean traditional music performance documentary[48]

Actor

• Family Matters (2006) cameo
• All for Love (2005) cameo
• Camellia Project: Three Queer Stories at Bogil Island (2005) cameo
• 2006 film 《Are you all right?》 - cameo (director Jang role)
• 2007 Short Film 155 Miles cameo
• 2013 Naver TV web drama 《The Woman Who Happened》 - cameo

Television

• Cinema Paradiso (EBS, 1994) host

Theater

Film credits

Year	Title		Credited as			Notes
	English	Korean	Director	Screenplay	Producer
2004	Fascination	매혹	Yes	No	No

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2000	Baeksang Arts Awards	Best New Director[a]	Memento Mori	Won
2001	Fantasporto	International Fantasy Film Award		Nominated
	Paris Film Festival	Grand Prix		Nominated
	Slamdance Film Festival	Grand Jury Prize		Nominated
2006	Busan Film Critics Awards	Best Screenplay	Family Ties	Won
		Best Director		Won
	Korean Association of Film Critics Awards	Best Film		Won
	Thessaloniki International Film Festival[49]	Jameson Audience Award		Won
		Best Screenplay[b]		Won
		Golden Alexander (Best Feature Film)		Won
	Blue Dragon Film Awards[50]	Best Screenplay		Nominated
		Best Director		Won
		Best Film		Nominated
	Korean Film Awards	Best Screenplay[b]		Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Film		Nominated
2007	Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Screenplay[b]		Nominated
		Best Director		Nominated
	Grand Bell Awards[51]	Best Screenplay[b]		Won
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Film		Won
	Deauville Asian Film Festival	Lotus Jury Prize		Won
	Movie Day	Promising Director		Won
	Ministry of Culture and Tourism	Young Artist of Today Award		Won
2011	Fribourg International Film Festival[52]	Ex-Change Award by Youth Jury	Late Autumn	Won
		Special Mention of the Jury of the International Federation of Film Societies		Won
	Buil Film Awards	Best Director		Won
	Grand Bell Awards	Best Director		Nominated
	Busan Film Critics Awards[53]	Best Film		Won
	Korea Green Foundation[54]	Green Santa Award	—	Won

See also

• List of Korean film directors
• Cinema of Korea

Notes

1. with Min Kyu-dong
2. with Sung Ki-young