In this April 18, 2019 photo, Chairman of jury Kim Ki-duk speaks during the opening ceremony of the 41st Moscow International Film Festival in Moscow, Russia. (PHOTO / AP)

RIGA - South Korean art-house filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has died in Latvia after contracting COVID-19, local media informed Friday.

Kim, whose cinematic works have been awarded at international film festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Venice, among others, is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in Asian cinematography

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Riga-based Russian documentary film director Vitaly Mansky confirmed that Kim died from COVID-19 complications Friday, shortly before his 60th birthday.

Mansky, who presides over the international documentary film festival Artdocfest in Riga, informed that Kim had arrived in Latvia in November with an intention to purchase a property in Latvia's Baltic seaside resort Jurmala.

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Kim, whose cinematic works have been awarded at international film festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Venice, among others, is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in Asian cinematography.