The year he turned 28, he became a director with Farewell to the Duman River. In 1974, he won Best Director at the Asian Film Festival. In 1979, he married the actress Chae Ryeong.
In 1981, Mandala became the first Korean film invited to the Berlin Film Festival. In 1985, Gilsoddeum reached the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 53, Kang Soo-yeon won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for The Surrogate Woman. Maeil Business Newspaper says the film made Im Kwon-taek known in the international film world.
In 1989, the Nantes festival in France held a retrospective week of his films. In 1990, the Munich Film Festival held a retrospective for him as “Director of the Year,” and General’s Son set the highest box-office record for a Korean film up to that time. In 1992, word came that he would receive a French arts order.
In 1993, Seopyeonje passed 1 million viewers 204 days after release. It was the first Korean film to draw 1 million in Seoul. In 1994, The Taebaek Mountains won Best Film at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. In 1995, the Im Kwon-taek Film Festival was held in Seoul. In 1996, Festival won Best Film at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards.
In 2000, Chunhyang became the first Korean film in the Cannes competition. In 2002, he won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for Chihwaseon. It was the first time a Korean film won an award in the Cannes competition. In 2004, Low Life, his 99th film as director, entered the Venice Film Festival competition.
In 2005, he received the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the first Asian to do so. In 2007, he released his 100th film, Beyond the Years, and received the French Legion of Honor. In 2011, he released his 101st film, Hanji. In 2013, the Im Kwon-taek Film Museum opened at Dongseo University in Busan.
In 2015, he released his 102nd film, Revivre. In 2016, he received the lifetime achievement award at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. In 2021, he was named the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year. In 2022, TV Chosun aired a special documentary on his life in film.
In 2023, he was announced as a Korean Film Veterans Association lifetime achievement award winner. In 2024, he was announced as a recipient of the Kim Dae-jung Nobel Peace Film Award. In 2025, KBS and the Korean Association of Film Critics profiled him in “Films of Our Time.” In 2026, a remake of Seopyeonje as an AI animation was announced, and he attended the press conference.
Im Kwon-taek (born 1934) became a director in 1962, the year he turned 28, with Farewell to the Duman River, and became known in the international film world in 1987, the year he turned 53, when Kang Soo-yeon won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for his film The Surrogate Woman. Seopyeonje passed 1 million viewers in 1993, the year he turned 59, and he won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for Chihwaseon in 2002, the year he turned 68.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.