Bong Joon-ho

Infobox actor


name = Bong Joon-ho
imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1969|9|14
location = flagicon|South Korea Seoul, South Korea
birthname =
othername =
occupation = film director and screenwriter
spouse =
children =
website =
footnotes = Infobox Korean name
hangul=봉준호
hanja=奉俊昊
rr=Bong Jun-ho
mr=Pong Chunho

Bong Joon-ho (born September 14 1969 in Seoul) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He decided to become a filmmaker while in middle school, perhaps influenced by an artistic family (his father was a designer and his grandfather was a noted author.) He majored in sociology in Yonsei University in the late 1980s and was a member of the film club there. He liked Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Imamura Shohei at the time. In the early 1990s, he completed a two-year program at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. While there, he made many 16mm short films and his graduation work "Memory in the Frame and Incoherence" was invited to screen at the Vancouver and Hong Kong international film festivals.

He made in 1994 with the short film "White People". His first feature film "Barking Dogs Never Bite", part comedy and part cruel social satire, in 2000 had a low box office record but he became widely known in his home country for the next film "Memories of Murder", based on the true story of the country's first known serial murders, in 2003. He attained both commercial success and critical acclaim through this film. "The Host" in 2006 was seen by a record ten million people in the country and was well received by the Cannes Festival. An amusing anecdote is told of him about "The Host". In high school, he saw a queer creature hanging down from a Han River bridge in Seoul and decided to make a monster film.

In 2008, he participated in the omnibus movie "Tokyo (segment "Shaking Tokyo")" with Michel Gondry and Leos Carax. He is currently directing "Mother", the story of a mother who struggles to save her son from a false accusation. He is planning to direct "Le Transperceneige", an adaption of Jean-Marc Rochette and Jacques Loeb's comic of the same name.

Filmography

Director

*"Barking Dogs Never Bite" (2000)
*"Memories of Murder" (2003)
*"The Host" (2006)
*"Tokyo (segment "Shaking Tokyo")" (2008)
*"Mother" (2009)
*"Le Transperceneige"Fact|date=May 2008 (2010)

Writer

*"" (1999)
*"Barking Dogs Never Bite" (2000)
*"Memories of Murder" (2003)
*"Antarctic Journal" (2005)
*"The Host" (2006)
*"Mother" (2009)
*"Le Transperceneige"Fact|date=May 2008 (2010)

Awards

2007

Oporto International Film Festival Best Director, for "The Host"

2006

Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia Best Special Effects and Orient Express Award for Best Asian Film, to"The Host"

2003

Sansebastian International Film FestivalSilver Shell for Best Director, Altadis New Director Award, and FIPRESCI Award, to "Memories of Murder"

Torino Film Festival Best Screenplay Award, Audience Award, for "Memories of Murder"

Tokyo International Film FestivalAsian Film Award, for "Memories of Murder"

2001 Hongkong International Film FestivalFIPRESCI Award for young Asian filmmakers, to "Barking Dogs Never Bite"

Slamdance Film FestivalBest Editing, for "Barking Dogs Never Bite"

Recurring Cast in Bong Joon-ho's Films

"Byeon Hee-bong" plays: The janitor in "Barking Dongs Never Bite" : The Sergeant Koo Hee-bong in "Memories of Murder": Park Hee-bong "The Host"

"Song Kang-ho" plays: The detective Park Doo-man in "Memories of Murder": Park Gang-doo in "The Host"

"Bae Doo-na" plays: Park Hyeon-nam in "Barking Dongs Never Bite" : Park Nam-joo in "The Host"

"Park Hae-il" plays: Park Hyeon-gyu in "Memories of Murder": Park Nam-il in "The Host"

References

*ko icon [http://people.naver.com/search/people_detail.nhn?frompage=nx_people&id=1189 Naver biographical information]
*en icon [http://koreanfilm.org/kfilm00.html Barking Dogs Never Bite]
*en icon [http://twitchfilm.net/archives/009234.html Tokyo]
*en icon [http://twitchfilm.net/archives/006624.html Le Transperceneige]
*ko icon [http://isplus.joins.com/enter/star/200805/27/200805270840075306020100000201080002010801.html Le Transperceneige]
*ko icon [http://isplus.joins.com/enter/star/200806/26/200806261019163436020100000201040002010401.html Mother]

ee also

*Korean cinema
*List of film directors

External links

*imdb name|id=0094435|name=Bong Joon-ho
*en icon [http://www.koreanfilm.org/bongjoonho.html The Bong Joon-ho Page]