As hundreds of thousands of people watched the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony from their homes (including most of the nominees themselves due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions) elegant actress Youn Yuh-jung walked confidently up to the microphone to accept her Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in Lee Isaac Chung's hit film Minari (2020). Looking at the audience and raising the golden statuette upwards, she said “I’d like to dedicate this award [to] my first director Kim Ki-young, who was [a] genius director. I made a movie together with him, [my] first movie. I think he would be very happy if he was still alive.” This aspect of her speech went mostly unnoticed. However, when the glitter and glamour were swept from that Oscar stage, one burning question remained: who was this Kim Ki-young?

While the door to discuss Kim Ki-young's film work has never been closed, it was rare that anyone knocked, let alone opened it wide for international audiences and critical consumption. Overall, the usual inquiries have centered on his most famous film: The Housemaid (Hanyeo, 1960), or the other two works included in what is known as the Housemaid Trilogy: Woman of Fire (Hwanyeo, 1971) and Woman of Fire ‘82 (Hwanyeo ‘82, 1982). But now, with Youn's explicit reference and the extended discourse after the awards show, who knows? The oeuvre of Kim Ki-young may be on its way to greater cinematic appreciation and exploration.

Youn's speech was a crucial moment in the life of this director's work and in the study of his women characters. This now globally recognized actress used her voice to direct attention to one of the most important filmmakers in South Korea. This ‘woman's voice’ brought him to the Western entertainment industry's attention, deftly pulling his memory onto the Oscar stage and demanding that the world remember and give respect to this filmmaker.

Where women and the films of Kim Ki-young are concerned, I do not use the term “voice” or its associated vocabulary—speak, enunciate, articulate—lightly. I abide by the definition that Christine Ashby uses in her intricate study on disabled individuals that considers typing as a means of communication.