Kim became an icon in Kerala due to Malayalis' love for his films" : Shaji N Karun

Kim Ki Duk, the maker of the much acclaimed movie Spring Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring that beautifully describes the evolution of a boy as a human through seasons, passed away on the night of December 11 from complications associated with Covid-19. He has a huge space in the minds of Malayalis after International Film Festival of Kerala did a retrospective of the East Asian filmmaker.

Veteran filmmaker

Shaji N Karun

, who shared a close bond with Kim Ki Duk during 2012, Goa film festival pays tribute to the filmmaker.

"Kim was a simple South Korean who had his own struggles. He came into films after being influenced by French culture while in France. Most of his films reflect the violence that he had faced during his childhood, the pain and suffering he had while growing up with a labourer. But there was also a Buddhist philosophy as part of his movies.


I have always felt his classic film is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. Malayalis have been especially fond of Kim's films. I think that the contemporary generation's affinity for violence has a major role to do with it. However, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring had surpassed that.


We shared a close bond while we were together in Goa for IFFI in 2012. We were staying in adjacent rooms. Though he didn't speak English, we communicated well irrespective of the impediment. Either he would knock on my door in the morning or vice versa, and we would have breakfast together. I could interact with him more in Goa than in Kerala as he didn't have so many fans there.


Kim was a celebrated figure here because of the strength of the films and Malayalis' love for movies. It is the respect that Malayalis have for films that was passed on the filmmaker who gave visual depiction of the South East Asian culture. That's how he became an icon in Kerala."