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KOREAN CINEMA History of film policy and the birth of the independent film movement in South Korea I developed an interest into South Korean film after seeing the English premier of On-Line, a film about the South Korean independent documentary movement. Having developed a curiosity about New Latin American cinema a couple of years ago, this Korean version of political activist film-making was particularly interesting to me. In the course of my research I soon came across major changes in Korean government during this century. Legislature under the Japanese colonial government and Korea's military regime heavily regulated the film industry. It has only been in the last ten years that these strict film policies have been changed. In earlier times, political opponents of the regimes in power could not make films that discussed controversial or political issues. Unfortunately, not many Korean films have survived. Colonial and military governments confiscated or destroyed most of the film stock predating 1950. Korean people today rarely have access to films from Korea's past. The situation is even worse for the western audience. To my knowledge there have been no events dedicated solely to Korean film. The first time a series of South Korean films have been shown in England, was in early May 1998. The Pan Asia Film Festival at the LUX and ICA in London gave an introduction to Asian film making from the 1960's to 1990's. However, the independent film movement was not even represented with one single film. I have structured the text in two parts. The first part aims to introduce the reader to the history of Korean film-making. The focus will lie less on film content being shaped by social changes, but more on the strong influence that the various governments had on the film environment. I will follow Korean film policy from the past to the present. This includes a description of the different laws dealing with film production and the government organisation which exists to 'foster' Korean film. It is aimed to be a case study of how governments influence the cultural product of film through legislation. I think these concepts of strict government control must be described to understand the development of Korean society at large. In the second part, I would like to describe the birth of the resistance movement and a political uprising which led to a change in government. The independent film collectives emerged from this background. Still active today is the Seoul Visual Collective producing political and independent films. I will look at the films this organisation produced and see how they have acted as tools for transforming society and speaking out for the repressed. � Melanie Knoedler
1999 |