Having won the best director award for "3-Iron" at the 2004 Venice International Film Festival, Kim Ki Duk is becoming a recognizable name in arthouses and with foreign film enthusiasts around the world. But in his homeland of South Korea, the filmmaker is actually pushed to the margins and his cutting-edge stories that challenge issues like crime and humanity while offering disturbing images fail to attract much of an audience. Feminists often assail his movies because of their representation of women and the violence brought upon them.

His 11th film, "3-Iron," however, received critical acclaim in Korea with its story about a man (played by Jae Hee) who breaks into homes when the owners are away and then becomes involved with a married woman (Lee Seung Yeon) in one of those houses. Now Sony Pictures Classic has opened the film in American theaters in limited release, starting in late April in Los Angeles and New York and with new theaters added in the following weeks. Sony previously released Kim’s 2003 film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring" last year.

KoreAm caught up with Kim during a publicity tour that took him from Milan, Italy, to New York and then Los Angeles. Kim, appearing exhausted, shared his thoughts on filmmaking and his latest movie, "Hwal."

Scenes from “3-Iron,” which stars Jae Hee as a man who breaks into empty houses and Lee Seung Yeon as the married woman who starts to accompany him.

Congratulations on your new film "Hwal (The Bow)" getting into the Un Certain Regard competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. What’s the movie about?

It’s about an archery bow and an old man. Hwal has two meanings in the film. One is as a musical instrument, and the other is as weaponry.

Weren’t you planning to make a movie about a gun after "3-Iron"?

I couldn’t get the gun. I tried to buy it from the U.S., but getting it through customs was impossible. So I switched to a hwal. It’s a weapon, too, and both are something you shoot.

"3-Iron" is the second of your films to be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. How do you think it will do?

"Spring" was the first Korean film Sony bought. It did well, so they probably think "3-Iron" will do well, too.

Why is the film called "3-Iron" in America and "Empty House" in Korea?

The original title is "3-Iron." Ninety percent of Korean people don’t golf. So they wouldn’t get it. I thought "Empty House" would be an easier title for Koreans to understand.

Can you explain why you chose to cast Lee Seung Yeon, especially considering the controversy that arose after she posed nude for a comfort women exhibit in 2004?

That’s a stupid question. Every Korean journalist asks me about that. Why ask me about gossip and not the movie? I think people overreacted to what she did. Are you saying that such a person shouldn’t act? I cast her because she’s an actor. People just want to throw a stone at someone, as if they themselves don’t do anything wrong and don’t follow the logic of capitalism. They are acting like the incident happened because someone was materialistic, greedy and morally corrupt. They don’t question capitalism itself.