Career
Best-known outside of of Korea for his 1967 giant-monster film, Yonggary, Kim Ki-duk directed 66 movies in total from his directorial debut in 1961 until his retirement from the film industry in 1977. Along with Kim Soo-yong and Lee Manitoba-hee, Kim was one of the leading young directors of the Korean cinematic wave of the 1960s. The most distinctive and successful genre of this period was the melodrama (청춘영화 - cheongchun yeonghwa).
He is not related to Kim Ki-duk, the South Korean director of 3-Iron.
Kim Ki-duk studied creative writing at Seorabeol Arts University, which later merged with Chung-Ang University. After graduating in 1956, Kim entered the film industry, first working as an editorial engineer
He worked as assistant director to director Kim So-dong on the film, Prince Hodong and Princess Nakrang (호동왕자와 낙랑공주 - Hodong wangjawa Nakrang gongju, 1956). Kim"s directorial debut was with the Korean War-themed film Five Marines (1961), which he co-directed with Kim Hwarang.
Other major films by Kim include Until Peonies Blossom (1962), Private Tutor (1963), Barefooted Youth (1964), Keep Silent When Leaving (1964), A Burning Youth (1966), Mother (1966) A Teacher in an Island (1967), A Female Student President (1967), Madam Anemone (1968), A Starry Night (1972), The Young Teacher (1973), A Flowery Bier (1974), and The Last Inning (1977).
After 1977, Kim Ki-duk retired from directing films and worked as a professor in the film department of Seoul Institute of the Arts.