2013 Year in Review: Film Log

Tully's Recall Year in Review Year by Year

2010 Film Log, At the Cinema, Top 10 

2011 Film Log, At the Cinema, Top 10

2012 Film Log, Korean Cinema, Top 10

2013 Film Log, Top 10 Features (coming soon)

Every film (that I can remember) that I watched in 2013 is listed below in the order that I watched them. It totals 136 features films (down almost 50 films from last year), and 181 short films (an increase in 50% from the previous year, indicating my more recent interests in the short film format). The percentage of films I saw in the theatre did increase though, as I managed to make it out to many more film festivals and art house screenings than i managed in 2012.

My Top 10 of 2013 will be up shortly, of which this year I will be posting both a look at features and shorts. Films seen in the theatre are Bolded. Red highlights are for films of ratings of 8 or higher out of 10. Short films are listed in "Inverted Commas". Enjoy!

2010 Stats (Features only)

Films watched - 125

Films seen in the theatre - 58 (46%)

Films of 8 or higher out of 10 - 27 (22%)

2011 Stats (Features only)

Films watched - 125

Films seen in the theatre - 58 (46%)

Films of 8 or higher out of 10 - 14 (11%)

2012 Stats (Features only)

Films watched - 184

Films seen in the theatre - 54 (29%)

Films of 8 or higher out of 10 - 19 (10%)

2013 Stats (Features only)

Films watched - 136

Films seen in the theatre - 57 (42%)

Films of 8 or higher out of 10 - 17 (13%)

Korean Film Downunder 3: Longing for a Ko-production

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. 

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. 

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. 

Korean Film Log 2012: February

While I managed to watch 31 Korean films in January, that dropped off greatly this month as Cinema on the Park started up again as well as soccer and many other things. I only managed to catch 3, two of which I presented at COTP. I promise to watch more in March, and put up some content for the Korean blogathon!

You can see my ratings in my Film Log section of the blog. I am going to make this a monthly entry as it's a great way to force myself to watch more!

Entries
The 31 Korean Films I Watched in January  (1-31)

32. Sopyonje (서편제)

Cinema on the Park Season 2 coming your way!

In what is clear self promotion, I am doing a short post about the film night I host in Sydney called Cinema on the Park. Its a free weekly Korean film night, so if you happen to read my blogs on Korean cinema and are based down under please try and come along. It would be great to develop the dialogue around Korean film in this country, something that has long been ignored.

It wasn't easy trying to encapsulate the many fascets of Korean film in 1 program, but I think we managed to do it. From art house directors Lee Chang-dong, Hong Sang-soo, Im Sang-soo and Kim Ki-duk, to the mainstream masters of Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, Kim Ji-woon, Na Hong-jin and Ryoo Seung-wan. From some of the most successful female directors in Im Soon-rye, Lee Jeong-hyang and Park Chan-ok, to those classic men that ruled in the early days before the Korean wave Kwak Kyung-taek and Kang Je-kyu. To a man who has lead Korean film in the Oceania region Park Ki-yong, to the most prominent Korean director ever, Im Kwon-taek, we have it all! And that's just the first half of the year!

Korean Film Downunder 2: Interest & Availability

Oh My God, I am blogging again! 

Well I am finally back on the blog after a single lazy entry 7 months ago which basically entailed watching youtube videos. But enough about that, before I get caught up doing something else I will try and get this blog finished. Funnily enough I have just noticed I have about 20 blogs just sitting in 'drafts' at the moment, which one day I may get around to publishing. Now this entry is not the original Part 2 of my look at Korean Film Downunder, but is what I felt like exploring next. Feel free to read the first part which looks at distribution and genre. This entry tries to link another 2 factors into the analysis, interest and accessibility. 

Following on from my look at distributions link to genre, I had believed the fact that the level of interest in Korean film in Australia was where it was at due to what was available to people. Generally films released and readily talked about fit into the crime thriller or horror genres, and this can of course only have limited appeal as its marginalising the audience. But as stated over at the KOFFIA blog Hungry for Drama, we have seen that comedies and dramas have been some of the favourite films at the festival. So why hasn't there been a crossover between those that love Korean dramas into watching Korean films?

Great image from the great Podcast, "What's Korean Cinema?"

The Korean Industry Looks Beyond It's Borders

Below is an interview I had with Sandy George of SBS Film blogs, which was published around November in response to KOFIC's announcement of its plans for developing the Korean film industry. While I was speculating, I hope you find it interesting! You can read the original article here

Korea’s film expansion could 
flow through to Australia

04 November 2011 | Interview By Sandy George
A new 'mega-studio' in Korea looks to increase the country's international co-productions.

Artistic Director of the Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA), Kieran Tully, believes the ambitious new plan to expand the size of the South Korean film industry by 25% by 2013 can only be good for his festival and for building bridges between the Australian and Korean industries, and between Korean films and Australian audiences. “With a goal to be world class and to focus on supporting creative content, then this plan is surely a benefit for the films we can select for our film festival, film night or library database,” said Tully, who works out of the Korean Cultural Office in Sydney.

Observing Kim Ki-duk Part 2: The Trailer

As I have not yet had the time to get around to the 2nd full entry into my analysis of Kim Ki-duk, (you can read part 1 here), I've decided to put together a quick entry to hopefully get you into thinking more about his career and auteur style. Inspired by Christopher J. Wheeler's poster montage seen here, I thought I would compile together something similar.

Christopher is a KOFFIA Blog contributor and HanCinema reviewer

The Wonderful Days of Korean Animation

Review: Sky Blue (Kim Moon-saeng / 2003)

Sky Blue is a Korean animated science fiction film that was simply not as big a hit as it should have been. Released in 2003 and with a $30 Million budget, it disappointingly mostly just did the festival circuit, before finding somewhat of a home on DVD. There is no doubt it deserves to find an audience, for being a revolutionary piece of cinema for its visuals, with a fairly solid story backing up its presentation. Labelled as “Akira for the 21st Century”, fans of Cyberpunk, Anime and Sci-Fi will find it a short and sweet ride into the future.

Tully's Tips: A Film Festival Story

As part of my Screen Culture course at AFTRS in 2010 I was required to conduct a creative project that in some way commented on an issue or contributed to a sector of the film and television industry. For this I chose to set out on a mission to establish a Korean Film Festival, partly due to my passion and knowledge of cinema from the Peninsula, but also because I couldn't believe a Korean Film Festival didn't currently exist. While the Japanese Film Festival had just completed its 13th Year, Korea was null and void and so I set out to change this fact.

After merging with a project team at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea, which consisted of Kim Young-gu (a staff member of KOFIC, the Korean Film Council) and Jungyeob Ji (an experienced assistant director and crew member of the Korean Film Industry), what resulted was the 1st KOFFIA Korean Film Festival in Australia. The event had its ups and downs, successes and failures, but most important of all, it will return in 2011. Other forms of Korean Film Festivals had occurred in Australia before, but none returned for successive years. A primary difference for KOFFIA was that this festival was not just for the Korean community in Australia, but for everybody, and this was at the heart of its success.

Jung, Kieran and Young-gu at KOFFIA

Korean Film Downunder 1: Genre and Distribution

This post was originally published over on the KOFFIA Blog, Hungry for Drama?, as part of the Korean Blogathon. I've replicated it here as I feel its quite an interesting time to take a look at the state of Korean cinema in Australia, given it's presence here has not always been as good as it looks today. In this 1st edition I look at Korean DVDs, Genre and Co-productions. At this point in time almost 50 Korean films have been released on DVD, which may not be anywhere near the amount of Japanese films, but is gradually improving. 

 

2010 Year in Review: At the Cinema

While it may just look like numbers, for a Mathematician such as myself, it means so much more than just figures. All of the references to 'films watched' below refer to 'films watched in the theatre only'. Nothing I saw on DVD, TV, Pay per view, Online etc were included. While anything seen in the theatre, outdoor cinema, at a film festival or special screening are included. 

I hope you find it interesting. 2010 was a crazily busy year for me so I only managed to see half as many films as I did in 2009, but probably saw many more outside of the theatre that are too numerous to even count!

My 2010 Cinema Going Analysis

"Fantastic Mr. Fox", the 1st film I saw in 2010