Lee Chang-dong

Lee was born in Daegu, the hub of Korea’s main conservative party. He graduated in 1981 with a degree in Korean Literature from Kyungpook National University in Daegu, where he spent much of his time in the theater, writing and directing plays. After a spell teaching Korean Language in high school, he established himself as a renowned novelist with his first novel Chonri in 1983. Later in his career, to the surprise of many, he turned to movie making.

Lee did not study filmmaking before starting out. He penned two screenplays, Park Kwang-su’s To the Starry Island in 1993 and A Single Spark in 1995. After being encouraged by his contemporaries to finally step behind the directors chair, Lee made Green Fish, a “critique of Korean society told through the eyes of a young man who becomes enmeshed in the criminal underworld”, in 1997.

In 2000, Lee made Peppermint Candy, a story following a single man in reverse chonology through 20 years of South Korean history (from 1980’s student uprising, to the film’s 2000 release). All of his films have received critical acclaim and awards, with Oasis, a story involving a mentally ill man and a woman with cerebral palsy, winning the prestigious Director’s Award at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. —Wikipedia