Kim Han-min (born November 5, 1969) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He directed the feature films Paradise Murdered (2007), Handphone (2009), War of the Arrows (2011), and The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014).
Kim Han-min | |
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Born | (1969-11-05) November 5, 1969 (age 52) Suncheon, South Korea |
Education | Dongguk University Graduate School of Film Arts |
Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1995–present |
Korean name | |
Hangul | |
Revised Romanization | Gim Han-min |
McCune–Reischauer | Kim Hanmin |
After graduating from Dongguk University's Graduate School of Film Arts, Kim Han-min gained accolades for two of his short films - Sunflower Blues which screened at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival as well as the New York Independent Film Festival; and Three Hungry Brothers which received awards at the Mise-en-scene Genre Film Festival, the Asiana International Short Film Festival, and the Seoul Digital Film Festival.[1]
In 2007 he made his feature directorial debut with the mystery-thriller Paradise Murdered starring Park Hae-il, Park Sol-mi and Sung Ji-ru. A fictionalized account of a murder that took place on a secluded island in the 1980s involving rational and irrational horrors, the film sold over 2 million tickets nationwide.[2] In his second feature, Kim shifted his setting to the big city, with blackmail thriller Handphone (2009) revolving around every urbanite's essential hardware, the cell phone. Starring Uhm Tae-woong and Park Yong-woo, it fell short of both the commercial and critical successes of his first film.[3]
Set during the second Manchu invasion of 1636, Kim's third film War of the Arrows (2011) combined well-choreographed combat sequences and special effects, fast pacing, a tense plot and the thrill of the chase to tell the story of a master archer and his quest to rescue his sister from Qing Dynasty soldiers.[4][5] The period action film unexpectedly drew an audience of 7.46 million, making it the highest grossing Korean film of 2011.[6] It also won recognition at the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards, notably for its lead actors Park Hae-il, Ryu Seung-ryong and Moon Chae-won.[7][8][9][10][11]
Kim's follow-up in 2014 was another period epic, Battle of Myeongryang, Whirlwind Sea (released internationally as The Admiral: Roaring Currents), which depicted the legendary sea battle between 12 vessels of the Korean navy led by the most admired military figure in Korea, General Yi Sun-sin (played by Choi Min-sik), and 330 invading Japanese ships, which are eventually defeated. Given the disparity in numbers, the battle is regarded as one of Yi's most remarkable victories.[12][13] It became the all-time most successful film in South Korean box office history, the first ever to reach 15 million admissions and the first local film to gross more than US$100 million.[14]
To commemorate Yi's 407th birth anniversary in 2015, Kim and Jung Se-kyu co-directed Roaring Currents: The Road of the Admiral, a documentary prequel to The Admiral: Roaring Currents in which cast members of the 2014 film retraced the 450-kilometer path that the admiral walked in preparation for the Battle of Myeongnyang, based on the war diary that Yi wrote.[15]
Beginning with 2014 film, The Admiral: Roaring Currents, Kim created Yi Sun-sin trilogy, based on three major naval battles led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin. The second film Hansan: Rising Dragon, based on Battle of Hansan Island which took place 5 years before Battle of Myeongnyang depicted in The Admiral, was released in 2022. Park Hae-il portrayed Admiral Yi in the film.[16]
Year | Film | Credited as | Notes | ||
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Director | Writer | Producer | |||
2007 | Paradise Murdered | Yes | Yes | ||
2009 | Handphone | Yes | Yes | also script editor, actor | |
2011 | War of the Arrows | Yes | Yes | ||
2014 | The Admiral: Roaring Currents | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
2015 | The Hunt | Adaptation | Yes | ||
Roaring Currents: The Road of the Admiral | Yes | Yes | Documentary | ||
2019 | The Battle: Roar to Victory | Adaptation | Yes | ||
2020 | Oh! My Gran | Adaptation | Yes | ||
2022 | Hansan: Rising Dragon | Yes | Yes | ||
TBA | Noryang | Yes | Yes |
Films written and directed by Kim Han-min | |
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Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Director | |
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1960s |
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1970s |
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1990s |
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2000s |
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2010s |
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2020s |
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Blue Dragon Film Award for Best New Director | |
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1960s |
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1970s |
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1990s |
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2000s |
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2010s |
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2020s |
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General | |
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National libraries |