Yu Hyun-mok

Infobox Korean name


caption=The portrait picture of Yu Hyun-mok was taken by Lim Eungsik in 1981
hangul=유현목
hanja=兪賢穆
rr= Yu Hyeon-mok
mr= Yu Hyŏn-mok

Yu Hyun-mok (born July 2, 1925) is a South Korean film director. Born in Sariwon, North Hwanghae, Korea (North Korea today), he made his film debut in 1956 with "Gyocharo" ("Crossroads").cite web |url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/yuhyunmok.html|title=The Yu Hyun-mok Page|accessdate=2007-05-07|work=www.koreanfilm.org|language=English] According to the website koreanfilm.org, his 1961 film "Obaltan" "has repeatedly been voted the best Korean film of all time in local critics' polls." Yu attended the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1963, where "Variety" called "Obaltan" a "remarkable film", and praised Yu's " [b] rilliantly detailed camera" and the film's "probing sympathy and rich characterizations." [Citation |last=Judy.|title=The Aimless Bullet|newspaper=Variety|date=1963-11-13]

His dedication to the intellectual side of film and interest in using film to deal with social and political issues led him to have difficulties both with box-office-oriented producers, and with Korea's military government during the 1960s and 1970s. Korean critics have said his directing style is "in the tradition of the Italian Neorealists," yet "the terms 'modernist' or 'expressionistic' [are] just as applicable to his works."cite web |last=Paquet|first=Darcy|url=http://www.koreanfilm.org/yuhm1.html|title=Yu Hyun-mok's School Excursion (1969)|accessdate=2007-05-07|work=www.koreanfilm.org|language=English]

Besides his directing activities, he has taught film, and made a significant contribution to Korean animation by producing Kim Cheong-gi's 1976 animated film, "Robot Taekwon V". A retrospective of Yu's career was held at the 4th Pusan International Film Festival in 1999.

Filmography

Awards

*Blue Dragon Film Awards
**Best Picture/Best Director ("Descendant of Cain") (1968)
*Grand Bell Awards
**Best Director ("To Give Freely") (1962)
**Best Director ("Martyr") (1965)
**Best Director ("Bun-Rye's Story") (1971)
**Best Picture ("Flame") (1975)
**Honorary Director Award (1995)
*Korean Film Critics Awards
**Best Director ("Son of Man") (1980)
*Order of Cultural Merit, Korean government (1988)
*Pusan International Film Festival
**Award for Artistic Contribution (2003)

Notes and references

*cite book|last=Lee|first=Young-il|year=1988|title=The History of Korean Cinema|publisher=Motion Picture Promotion Corporation|pages=p.336|language=English|isbn=89-88095-12-X
*cite book |last=Min|first=Eungjun|coauthors=Joo Jinsook, and Kwak HanJu|year=2003|title=Korean Film : History, Resistance, and Democratic Imagination |publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=Westport, Connecticut|language=English|pages=pp.41, 44–46, 52, 57, 62–63|isbn=0-275-95811-6
*cite web|title=Filmography of Yu Hyun-mok |url=http://movie.daum.net/personInfo?pkey=132&mode=1 |publisher=DAUM Movie DB |language=Korean

External links

*imdb name|id=1127972|name=Hyeon-mok Yun
* [http://www.koreanfilm.org/yuhyunmok.html The Yu Hyun-mok Page] at koreanfilm.org