Today, Korean studios produce gritty dramas, thrillers and war films that play to packed theaters throughout Asia. The producers who make these films and the audiences who enjoy them owe a collective debt of gratitude to director Lee Man-hee, an early pioneer of all three genres. The NYKFF will be holding a retrospective of Lee’s influential work on August 30 and 31 at the BAM Rose Cinema and BAM Cinématek. The show will feature four of Lee’s works, all subtitled in English: The Devil’s Stairway (1964), Water Mill (1966), Road to Return (1967) and A Way to Sampo (1975).

Born in 1931, Lee Man-hee was a pioneer of Korean cinema, though all too often an overlooked one. He spent much of his professional life exploring the subject of war through action films and thrillers.

Lee’s first acclaimed film, Dial 112!, debuted in 1962, but it wasn’t until a collaboration with fellow director Seo Jeong Min that Lee scored his first box-office hit with The Marines Who Didn't Come Home (1963)—which drew 200,000 Koreans to the theater.

Throughout the ‘60s and early ‘70s, Lee worked feverishly. He completed 50 films from 1961 to 1975, filming 11 in 1967 alone. Many critics consider his 1966 melodrama Late Autumn one of the best Korean films ever made.

As his skills grew, Lee’s life developed like one of his dramatic scripts. At the height of his career, the Korean film industry collapsed, pushing him into obscurity. Lee returned in 1971, directing Break the Iron Chain. From then, he continued his prolific pace. But, while working on A Way to Sampo at one of his editing tables, Lee began coughing up blood and collapsed. Rushed to the hospital, Lee asked to be kept alive long enough to finish his film. In April 1975, Lee died, cutting short a brilliant career.