Kim Ki-Duk Dies Of Covid-19 At 59: South Korean Director Won Prizes At Venice, Cannes, Berlin

Also on this day:  British troops burn Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.The United States and Mexico sign a treaty under which the U.S. agrees to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.

Before “Oldboy,” before “The Handmaiden,” visionary South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook helmed, “Joint Security Area,” a gripping tale of deceit, misunderstanding, and the senselessness of war. READ MORE: The Best & The Rest: The Films Of Park Chan-Wook Ranked Released in 2000, “Joint Security Area,” occurs after a shooting incident at the North/South Korean border/DMZ leaves 2 North Korean soldiers dead.

Elton John is wishing his fans a merry Christmas.

Hello, and welcome to the final International Insider of 2020. Jake Kanter and Tom Grater with you in the saddle to look back on another week of offerings from the film and TV biz. International Insider will return in New Year, but until then, we hope your holidays are happy and healthy.

The Berlin Film Festival on Thursday unveiled major changes to its 71st edition, which will see it split into two stages, with the first stage shifting online because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. "Berlinale 2021 Will Be a Festival in Two Stages: Industry Online Offer in March/Public Event in June," organizers said in the headline of a statement.

What was reported earlier this week has come true—the 2021 Berlin Film Festival is going virtual in March with a (planned) in-person “celebration” in June. This hybrid strategy is something that differentiates it from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival and this year’s TIFF and Venice festivals.

coronavirus pandemic and split into two parts later in 2021, organizers said Friday.The “Berlinale” had been scheduled for February in the German capital but cannot go ahead due to the likelihood that coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings will continue, organizers said.To give the film industry a venue to market their products in the first quarter, however, a virtual Berlinale will be held online in March.

The Berlin Film Festival is rethinking its offering in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Berlin Film Festival has confirmed it is canceling its physical event in February. Instead, from March 1-5, Berlin’s official selection will be presented to the film industry, and the European Film Market will run in a virtual format, with a physical edition of the festival for the public planned for June, as revealed exclusively by Variety on Wednesday.The festival was scheduled to run as a physical event from Feb.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFor his debut edition earlier this year, Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian was, in hindsight, quite fortunate. The 70th edition of the Berlinale and the European Film Market took place without a hitch Feb.

With 2020 basically canceling much of the film festival season, or at least forcing many to go digital, the hope was that 2021 would be different. Well, COVID-19 doesn’t care about what the film industry wishes would happen.

Controversial South Korean director Kim Ki-duk died in a hospital in Latvia where he was being treated for COVID-19. He was 59.

according to the Associated Press. He was 59.The death of the filmmaker, who won top prize at 2012 Venice Film Festival with “Pieta,” was first confirmed by Vitaly Mansky, president of an international doc film festival in Riga, and later “indirectly” by the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, which revealed a “South Korean male in his 50s died while being treated for COVID-19 at a hospital in Latvia during the early hours of Dec.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- South Korean director Kim Ki-duk, who won the top award at the Venice Film Festival in 2012 but later faced allegations at home of trying to force an actress into shooting off-script sexual scenes while making another movie, has died in Latvia. He was 59.The Baltic News Service cited Latvia-based Russian documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky, president of an international documentary film festival in Riga, as saying Kim died after falling ill with COVID-19.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAward-winning and deeply divisive South Korean film director Kim Ki-duk has died of COVID-19-related complications while on a visit to Latvia, local media in Latvia has reported. His death has not been confirmed in Korea.Latvian news portal Delfi said Kim arrived in the country a month ago with the intention of buying a house and applying for alien residency status.