MASTER CLASS

Kang's most notable contributions to Korean cinema are Shiri and Taegukgi. Shiri was the first big-budget Hollywood-style action film made in Korea, breaking box office records and contributing to the popularization of domestic films in the country. Taegukgi, directed five years later, again rewrote box office records, having been seen by over ten million people in Korea alone. After establishing his own film production company under his name, he merged it with Myung Films in 2004, forming MK Pictures. In an interview for the BBC's Asian Invasion special, Kang revealed that he wanted his next project to be a science fiction film. He said, "I've produced two films about Korea. So now I'm preparing a new film that deals with a more global issue - an issue that the whole world is facing right now." After a seven-year hiatus, in 2011 Kang released his film My Way, set during World War II with an all-star cast from Asia and the highest budget ever for a Korean film.