Kim Ki-duk said Tuesday the award for "Pieta" is important because it will help persuade large corporate theater operators in South Korea to screen independent movies like his.
The 51-year-old director with no formal film training says he considered leaving South Korea for countries that welcome his work.
Kim's previous 17 movies won little commercial success at home but caused a stir with their explicit violence.
"Pieta" is a drama about a brutal debt collector whose life takes a turn when a strange woman shows up claiming to be his mother.
