Refocus: The Films of Kim Ki-Young - (Refocus: The International Directors) by Chung-Kang Kim (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first comprehensive scholarly volume on Kim Ki-young and his films in English

Book Synopsis

World-renowned South Korean directors, including Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon Ho, cite Kim Ki-young as being the greatest Korean influence on their work. During his thirty year career, Kim Ki-young produced thirty-three films and became revered by critics within the national and international community as one of the few South Korean 'auteurs'.
As the first comprehensive scholarly volume on Kim Ki-young in English, ReFocus: The Films of Kim Ki-young covers his entire career and history of cinematic work, highlighting the thematic and stylistic singularity of Kim's oeuvre, which was produced relative to the specific historical and cultural conditions of post-war South Korea. It offers an innovative departure point from which to explore South Korean film relative to the wider history of world cinema, in addition to situating Kim's work within the broader fields of Korean modern history, transnational cinema and cultural studies.

Review Quotes

By historically engaging with the first Korean auteur director, this book not only rediscovers Kim Ki-young as one of the most respectable directors but also connects his films to contemporary Korean cinema. It provides fascinating discussions fully supported by diverse voices, which are solid, well-grounded, and academically sound.--Dal Yong Jin, Simon Fraser University

This illuminating volume on one of South Korea's most fascinating and eccentric directors provides in-depth readings of Kim's films, while at the same time examining key themes relevant to Korean cinema as a whole: national identity, gender, state control, and Korea's complex relationship with its former colonizer Japan.--Darcy Paquet, author of New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves

About the Author

Chung-kang Kim is Associate Professor in the Department of Theater and Film at Hanyang University, South Korea. Her research considers the realms of Korean and East Asian cinema, cultural studies, gender, race, sexuality studies, and (trans)national visual culture. She is a co-author of Queer Korea (2020), Rediscovering Korean Cinema (2019), The Holy Nation: Gender and Sexuality in Law and Science (2017), and Orphans, People of No Heritage (2014). Her articles appear in various journals including Journal of the History of Sexuality, The Journal of Korean Studies, and The Journal of Literature and Film.