I feel very good. I consider this Golden Lion goes to Korean film, not to me. I would like to say once again that I am grateful to everyone who has supported me.

 

 

I made small-scale films such as Arirang and Amen but it was the first time in four years to work with many staffers and great actors. I really wanted to make films during the break. I experienced a sense of great happiness making  Pieta. I always knew that but that feeling was reinforced as I was making this film. I have resolved to make films that are fun to watch as well as have meaning in the future.

 

 

 Give us a brief introduction about Pieta. Also what is behind the title?

The title is a weighty one also on a personal level. I considered many other titles but decided on  Pieta as the meaning is “show us mercy”. As I was making the film, I thought that everyone living in this modern world are beings that need to await God’s mercy. The modern world is in total confusion because human relationships have become tangled because of money. On a large scale, there are wars and on a smaller scale we have petty fights about money and power. All those situations happen because of money. But Pieta isn’t just about current affairs. It’s also about families and revenge. The most important aspect of  Pieta is that we’re all accomplices in this situation. I wanted to say that we’re all connected like a spider web in this modern society. I worked for seven years at a factory by the Cheonggye Stream so I wanted to portray that important space during my youth. There are more and more buildings being constructed in that area so it is fast disappearing. I wanted to say “hello” to the Cheonggye area that provided the basis of Korea’s powerhouse status in the global IT industry. Against the backdrop of the Cheonggye Stream into which capitalism fows, I wanted to tell a story about money and relationships. This makes  Pieta sounds like a very complicated story but I simply wanted to put into my film the idea of ‘God, Please have mercy on us’. 

 

 

First, I’ve been a fan of Ms Jo. She’s done great work and I could tell that she’s an actor of great energy so I thought I could feel that energy by working with her. After casting her, I was actually very shocked as I worked with her. She had different versions of characterization for every single page, extending to three different versions and she knew exactly what I wanted from her every time. LEE Jung-jin had until now focused on fun, stylish dramas but I felt that he’s like a blank paper. Gang-do seems like a strong personality on the surface but he’s actually very weak like a baby. LEE express that aspect of the character very well and I would like to express my thanks to him.

 

 

I thought I couldn’t be happier if I won because I knew how great this award is. After the official screening, the reactions from both the audience and the critics were so fervent that even I could feel it myself. When I heard my fans in Italy said, “The only owner of the Golden Lion must be Pieta”, I expected it would come true to be honest.

 

 

 

I visualized myself at 15 years old, working hard near Cheonggyecheon carrying loads and moving boxes.

 

 

 

First of all, I suppose the global theme of capitalism and twisted morality derived from it caught the attention of the audience and the jury. As the jury commented, although the film starts with violence and cruelty, it purifies the sins with forgiveness and salvation that lie inside humans as the story develops and heads to the end. I think this is what moved them.

 

 

Even the day before the closing ceremony, internationally influential presses predicted that the final winner of the festival would be either your  Pieta or Paul Thomas ANDERSON’s The Master. What do you think about the competition?

Paul Thomas ANDERSON is one of the representative directors of the United States, who directed Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. He has won awards at many flm festivals by investigating the inside of humans in his works. I was honored to compete with him. The Master was not only the Silver Lion winner, but it also made Philip Seymour HOFFMAN and Joaquin PHOENIX win the Best Actor’s Awards together. A number of competitive directors presented flms about violence and religion in the competition section this year. I wouldn’t have won the prize among them without all those who have helped me.

 

 

He with Michael MANN the head of jury was the one who greatly helped me bring  Pieta to the festival. Alberto BARBERA has constantly told me that he was immensely fascinated by the messages of my film. I know he also said the messages would touch audiences at interviews. Before the awards presentation, he personally said to me, “Don’t go back too early. I want you to make sure to be at the closing ceremony.”

 

 

The honor of winning the Golden Lion was all by virtue of the actors and the staff who worked with me. It wouldn’t have been possible without them.

 

 

I sang it too when I won Un Certain Regard at the Cannes International Film Festival with Arirang last year. To repeat what I said earlier in Korea, Arirang was an answer to the questions I had for myself in the last 4 years and a sort of soul cleaning ritual for me. I wanted to show the world something that best represents Korea along with the messages in  Pieta.

 

 

Aside from my personal opinion on this, when you look at how well my films such as  Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter And Spring and 3 Iron have done in France and the U.S, it is obvious that my films are way more popular outside Korea. Also, my films are considered to be commercial films, not arthouse films abroad. And when I walk around in downtown Paris, I get many more requests for my autograph than in Korea(laughs). Once a foreigner asked me if I know a film director called Kim Ki-duk. I just smiled at him (laughs). I know I should have felt grateful but I also felt quite sad. When I got the Best Director’s Award for  3 Iron at Venice, I also got the “little lion” an award given by an Italian Student Film Appreciation Group. I thought to myself, how come Koreans don’t understand a film that Italian high schoolers understand and appreciate? It’s true that I have felt sad about it but despite all that, I know that there are people in Korea who love my films. I hope that the time will come when many more Koreans will like my work. I also want my flms to be viewed in a more populist way. I believe that by watching my films, you’ll get an understanding about life itself, so I recommend my films despite their strangeness and painful nature.

 

 

Yes, we all want to be in front of the camera at least once, don’t we? Plus I’m a film director so I have a definite advantage there (laughs). I appear in  Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter And Spring for about twenty minutes and also in other parts of the film but I'm not confident about delivering lines well. Aside from the personal documentary Arirang, I would like to act in the future. I apologize to the actors, though(laughs).

 

 

I will try to continue presenting audiences with good films.  Pieta was released in Korea a few days ago, so my biggest dream at the moment is that a lot of people watch my film.