This year, the 61st Venice International Film Festival decided to pick a Korean film as an additional entrant in the competition category after the festival's official opening on Sept. 1.
The movie "3-Iron", by South Korean director Kim Ki-duk, will compete with Im Kwon-taek's "Haryu Insaeng" and 20 other films for the first-prize Golden Lion award. "3-Iron" is due to be released in theaters in Korea in October.
Mr. Kim has been recognized on the world stage before. He won the best director award for "Samaria" at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, while earlier, "The Isle" and "Address Unknown" were invited to the competition category by the Venice Film Festival in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
"3-Iron" is a love story between a man who wanders around, sleeping in houses when the owners are away, and a woman who runs into him in one house.
Meanwhile, "Three ... Extremes", by directors from three nations ― South Korea's Park Chan-wook, Japan's Takashi Miike and China's Fruit Chan ― was invited to the Midnight Express category, a non-competitive section at Venice.
Kim's film isn't the first South Korean one to make it to Venice. In 1987, Kang Soo-yeon received the best actress award for Im Kwon-taek's "Sibaji", marking the first time that a South Korean won an award at three major international film festivals ― Cannes, Venice and Berlin ― in one year. At the 2002 Venice film festival, Lee Chang-dong won the special director award, while the actress Moon So-ri of "Oasis" fame won the best first-time actress honor.
"Haryu Insaeng", which will preview on Friday, is the life story of a young man who experiences turmoil in the 1950s through the '70s, a a time when violence prevailed over words or everything else, including the law.
In other film news, Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese director best known for the hit "Spirited Away", unveiled his new animated film, "Howl's Moving Castle" on Saturday. It's the only animation in the competition category. This tale of adventure stars a wizard named Howl and an 18-year-old girl named Sophie who is transformed into a 90-year-old woman by an evil witch who's jealous of her and wants Howl all to herself. Like Mr. Miyazaki's other works, his warm and deep affection for humanity permeates the film.
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