Feature Film Competition

BOM, YEOREUM, GAEUL, GYEOWOOL, GEURIGO, BOM
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Kim Ki-duk, SOUTH KOREA, GERMANY, 2003, 103', col., 35mm
Director Kim Ki-duk
Screenplay Kim Ki-duk
Cinematography Baek Dong-hyun
Editing Kim Ki-duk
Music Bark Ji-woong
Cast Oh Young-su, Kim Ki-duk, Kim Young-min, Seo Jae-kyung
Production Lee Seung-jae per LJ Film Co. Ltd., Pandora Film Produktion GmbH
Distribution Mikado

The relentless passing of the seasons in a monastery on the mountains: the spiritual growth of a young boy develops under the attentive guidance of an old monk. In spring, the child monk curiously notices a frog which is unable to move because it has a rock on its back, but little does he know that he will be compelled to endure the same fate by his guardian monk. In summer, the young monk, now seventeen, falls in love with a girl who spends a period of convalescence in the monastery. Autumn: now thirty, the young monk attempts suicide in front of the statue of Buddha, his old mentor severely punishes him but later knows how to restore his equilibrium. In winter, the now adult monk goes to meditate in a hermitage. It's spring again: the monk is old and observing nature's rebirth, near him a child is playing.

DIRECTOR
Kim Ki-duk was born in 1960, as self-taught person, he worked in a factory and at the age of twenty he was enlisted in the navy. He went to France to study cinema and later worked as a painter in Montpellier for two years. On his return to his homeland, he dedicated himself to script-writing and his first film, "Ag-o" was released in 1996. He immediately affirmed himself as an original and rigorous film-maker within the industry; his films have often aroused controversy both at home and abroad. Kim Ki-duk narrates life in contemporary Korea, full of contradictions, whose characters are often relegated to society's margins, putting themselves in the hands of violence, their only method of expression. His penultimate film, "Bad Guy", was nominated at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002.

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