Director KIM Ki-duk recently took part in this year’s Dubai International Film Festival with his 22nd feature THE NET, currently doing the festival rounds following its world premiere as part of the Venice Days section of the Venice International Film Festival. The maverick director has taken part in the festival before, having won the Best Director prize in the Murh AsiaAfrica competition for his Venice Golden Lion-awarded Pieta in 2012.
Following Venice, KIM’s film, which stars RYOO Seung-bum as a North Korean fisherman who accidentally drifts to the south when his fishing net is caught in his boat’s engine and must face tough interrogation by intelligence agents in South Korea, was invited to screen at the Toronto, Busan, Golden Horse and AFI Film Festivals, among others. The film opened in early October in Korea, garnering USD 360,000 in box office receipts from 56,500 admissions. THE NET is screening in Dubai’s ‘Cinema of the World’ program.
For its 13th edition, which ran from December 6th to 13th, the Dubai International Film Festival screened 156 feature films from 55 countries. Previous Korean winners at the festival, prior to the end of the Murh AsiaAfrica competition in 2013, were 2008 Best Film winner Treeless Mountain by KIM So-yong, 2009 Best Screenplay winner Mother for BONG Joon-ho and PARK Eun-kyo, and 2010 Special Mention recipient End of Animal by JO Sung-hee.
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