This piece was included in the White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century. Its more of my musings about Korea and Australian relations through film, though my bias in this clearly comes through! Hope you find it interesting.
The time has come for Australia
to look to the powerhouse of the Asia Pacific region in regards to the
entertainment industry. No longer can our focus simply be locked on to the
lustrous billions of potential opportunities that China seems to hold over us.
The real leader in the region, the real leader in the industry, is South Korea.
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| We were close ... |
Unfortunately Australia still
does not have co- production agreements with key nations in Asia with respect to
the film industry, namely Japan, Thailand & South Korea. With such a great
focus placed on China, these other giants seem to have been left behind. After
all this is the “Asian Century” and not the “Chinese Century”, so there is no
reason that our focus should lie with the sleeping giant. Now the fact that Screen
Australia and the Australian entertainment industry have acknowledged the
potential with co-productions and distribution in China is fine, but it cannot
be our sole entrance into partnering with the region. (Singapore, our only other
partner in Asia, could not be classified as a powerhouse, and to date only 1
feature has resulted from that co-production agreement). There is such great
potential for content to be exported in both directions, and Korea is the
leader in this case.
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| but not close enough |
Numerous Korean television shows,
movies and TV commercials continue to shoot in the beautiful locations of
Australia (for a list check out Brian Yecies and
Shim Aegyung’s article Hallyuwood
Down Under), but the product is entirely Korean. Our endless lands
and wide open golf courses are things Koreans crave, in a country that is
mountainous, and space is hard to find. I believe that it needs to become a
priority for Screen Australia, the Korean Film Council, and any other parties
that could assist the establishment of such a co-production (such as the
Australia Korea Foundation) to make a co-production a priority.
