Kim Ki-young

Kim Ki-young, a renowned South Korean film director, was born on October 10, 1919, in Seoul during the colonial period, a time that would have a profound impact on his life and work. He spent his childhood in Pyongyang, where his interest in theater and cinema began to take shape. As the colonial era came to a close, Kim returned to Korea and pursued a career in dentistry, simultaneously becoming involved in the theater scene. The outbreak of the Korean War saw him working on propaganda films for the United States Information Service, a role that would have a lasting influence on his filmmaking style. In the years that followed, Kim's passion for film only grew stronger, and he began to experiment with discarded movie equipment, eventually producing his first two films in 1955. The success of these early works enabled Kim to establish his own production company, which went on to produce a string of popular melodramas throughout the 1950s.