Im Sangsoo

I. Introduction

Im Sang-soo is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.

II. Career

Im was born in Seoul. He studied sociology at Yonsei University in Seoul before making a move to the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in 1989. He began working in film that same year, landing his first job as Park Jeong-won's assistant director on Kuro Arirang.

Following graduation from KAFA, Im worked as an assistant director under Kim Young-bin on Kim's War (1994). In 1995, Im wrote the screenplay for The Eternal Empire, and also the screenplay A Noteworthy Film, which won him the Creation Prix at the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Scenario Competition.

In 1998, Im landed his first directorial gig. Girls' Night Out, a drama about three women in Korea, caused a controversy upon release due to the frank and sexually driven dialogue and has received mixed, almost polarized, reviews.

Tears, a hard drama about the lives of four runaway teenagers in Seoul, came next. Im spent five months in the Garibong-dong district of Seoul amongst homeless runaway teens before writing the script for the film. This film was shot in 2000 on miniDV to save the budget. To achieve greater realism, Im opted to use non-actors.

2003's Good Lawyer's Wife was Im's first film to reach #1 at the South Korean box office, thanks in large part to the suggestive poster and trailer campaign centered on star Moon So-ri. This film was also screened in the main competition program at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival.

Next in Im's string of controversial films was 2005's President's Last Bang, about the night President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his KCIA Director. The controversy started before it was released to the public (a press screening had already been held), with President Park's family suing MK Pictures over the film's content. A Korean court ordered the removal of 3 minutes and 50 seconds' worth of documentary footage from the film as it was thought the documentary footage might confuse the public into thinking the film was based on hard facts, which Im admits is not the case.

The Old Garden, Im's fifth film, was released theatrically in fall 2006. It debuted at the 2006 San Sebastián Film Festival.

His 2010 film, The Housemaid, competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2012, The Taste of Money competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

III. Filmography

Year	Poster	Title
1998		Girls' Night Out
2000		Tears
2003		A Good Lawyer's Wife
2005		The President's Last Bang
2006		The Old Garden
2010		The Housemaid
2012		The Taste of Money
2015		Intimate Enemies
2020		Heaven: To the Land of Happiness

IV. Awards