First "Japanese" Film in Korea Announced

Abe-Nornes amnornes
Sun Nov 1 10:49:39 EST 1998


Of course, this phrase "the first Japanese film released in Korea" is
referring only to contemporary history. The history of Japanese films in
Korea goes way back to the first decade of the century, when Russo-Japanese
War actualities and other short films were shown in Korea...then an
occupied territory of Japan. Until the end of the war there was a
complicated distribution network for Japanese films and co-productions as
well. However, the relationship between Japanese film and the Korean
reception context was far more complicated that colonizer/colonized. For
example, in the late 1920s and early 1930s there were various connections
between the Proletarian Film League and a comparable collective in Korea. 

I am hosting Lee Myung-Se, a major Korean director of romantic comedies, to
Ann Arbor next week---along with scholar Im Hyun-Ock---and look forward to
asking them about the contours of the current situation. To what degree is
the importation of Japanese films a welcome development is what I'd like to
know. Korean filmmakers have been vociferous critics of the import of
American films, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s. Labor unions for
the film industry protesting UIP's tactics of capturing the domestic market
were notorious for doing things like releasing snakes in the theaters
showing James Bond movies and the like. I'll ask what's happening, and
report back!

Markus




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