- Born
- Lee Chang-Dong was born in 1954 in Daegu, which some consider the most right-wing city in South Korea. Lee is a former high-school teacher and an acclaimed novelist. He turned to cinema when he was over 40 years old. His debut film "Green Fish" (1997) brought immediate success and critical acclaim. "Peppermint Candy" (2000), seemingly having the same 'lost innocence' theme as his former work, shoots fiery criticisms against the still-powerful remnants of the Korean military dictatorship regime. With "Oasis" (2002) Lee received countless awards, including the Special Director's Award at the Venice Film Festival. Since 2003, Lee worked as the Minister of Culture in the newly elected liberal national government.- IMDb Mini Biography By: averroes
- RelativesJoon-dong Lee(Sibling)
- American filmmaker Sean Baker is a huge fan of his work, referring to him as a "modern master".
- The retrospective viewing of Lee Chang-dong 's movies was organized as part of the official program during 2007 Golden Apricot International Film Festival held in Yerevan, Armenia.
- Serving as Minister of Culture in Roh Moo-Hyun's government.
- Member of the jury at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2010.
- Brother of Joon-dong Lee.
- [speaking about Burning (2018) at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival] I saw a huge mystery in this short story by Murakami and I believed that it could turn into a whole series of mysteries and that there could be different layers to the mystery in a film. To begin with, I wanted to give the opportunity to a young director and just produce the film, but that's not how it worked out. Then a screenwriter adapted the short story; I was a bit hesitant, but in fact the mystery in this very short story proved very good for a film.
- [press conference for Burning (2018) at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, asked about the themes of anger and violence in the film] This is a universal phenomenon - it's independent of religion, nationality or social status; all sorts of different people can experience anger, typically young people - they live in an oppressing world, and this feeling of anger is quite urgent. Young people are angry, but sometimes we don't know why or towards whom - that's the problem. In the past you knew why you were angry, you knew what your anger was directed at, but this is no longer the case - the world has improved, it seems to work very well, but young people have no real answer to how they'll be able to make a living. So young people experience a fairly tragic situation; young people don't know towards whom they should direct their anger.
- [Cannes press conference for Burning (2018)] You find a lot of hothouses in Korea, a bit all over the place - they're a common sight. When Jong Su sees these greenhouses burn, it's as though he was on fire as well. Of course, it's a kind of feeling of power that he attains in this way because he can't get the same feeling in reality. Then of course you have the case of the Great Gatsby. To sum up, the greenhouses represent Jong Su himself; also they are a target for anger. The film addresses social, cultural, economic aspects - art, the cinema - there are a lot of things hidden away, tucked into the film, and I didn't want to explain everything. I simply wanted to show things in a very cinematographic fashion - allude to them - I want the spectator to look at the film like a simple thriller.
- [Cannes press conference for Burning (2018)] When you first see the film, it seems to show great rivalry between the young people; there's one fairly apathetic young man who has the impression that he is fairly helpless. On the other hand, you then have a young man who seems very kind, he's very rich, he has everything he needs and he thinks he's a kind of a god - he's very mysterious - you don't really know what he's like. You have these two young men therefore, and then there's the young woman who's searching for meaning in her life. This scene, dancing at sunset, this scene danced by Hae-mi shows that she's looking for life against the backdrop of the mystery of nature - that's what I wanted to show in the scene.
- [Cannes press conference for Burning (2018)] Part of the film was shot in the outskirts of Seoul where tourists usually go when they reach Seoul. There are a lot of foreigners who visit the area. It's a place that's very symbolical. The female character has a tiny little room with a ray of sunlight maybe just once a day. So that's very symbolical too - you have this contrast between this place in Seoul where lots of tourists go and a very poor area. So, Hae-mi's room, that's where the characters make love - it's a very poor kind of love - and Jong Su tends to masturbate, like a lot of young people today. I don't know really how this should be construed - it's up to you to decide.
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