Director Kim Ki-duk's film "Empty House", starring actress Lee Seung-yeon, has been submitted to the Venice International Film Festival's competition section as a "Film Sorpresa".
The festival organizers announced Sunday that "Empty House" was submitted to the Film Sorpresa section. Accordingly, Kim Ki-duk has received an invitation from the Venice International Festival for the third time. His movie "The Isle" led to his first invitation and he grabbed a second one with the movie, "Address Unknown".
Two Korean movies are submitted to the official Competition section, "Venecia 61"-- Kim Ki-duk's "Empty House" and Im Kwon-taek's "Haryu Insaeng"(Low Life). 22 movies in total are in the section.
This is the first time "Film Sorpresa", a kind of surprise event introduced by director Marco Mueller when he headed the Locarno Film Festival, has been conducted at Venice.
The organization of the festival did not open the list of "Film Sorpresa" to the public in its official website (www.labiennale.org). It did not even provide detailed information to the directors, maintaining strict security.
"Empty House" is Kim's 11th movie and took only 11 days to complete. The story is about a powerless woman who is imprisoned by a violent man. "Empty House" captured the public's attention because it represents a come-back for its heroine, Lee Seung-yeon, who received criticism because of nude photos she posed for in which she made herself out to be a comfort woman.
Director Kim and actresses Lee Seung-yeon and Jae Hee will leave Korea on Monday. They will participate in interviews and official presentation of the movie in Venice.
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