Kim Dong-won

Biography

KIM Dong-won is like a godfather to Korean documentaries. As the leader of [PURN Production], a documentary production house that focused on unearthing the contradictions of Korean society from a progressive viewpoint. Purporting to make “good,” rather than “fun” movies, his camera zoomed straight in on the dark corners of the society, places full of contradictions, and refuges of the socially disadvantaged. KIM’s works provided textbook examples to Korea’s documentary directors that followed in his footsteps. His debut movie, < Sangye-dong Olympics >(1987), deals with people of Sangye-dong, an area of Seoul that was torn down by the government only because the area was “not easy on eyes” in...