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!

The History of Korean Cinema .... on screen

The fact of the matter is, outside of Korea, Korean cinema is still a very 'new' thing. Generally most people may have seen your Oldboy's and My Sassy Girl's but outside of that the earliest film that those in the West will have likely seen would probably be JSA (2000) or Shiri (1999). This puts Korean cinema in an interesting position of only being around 14 years old (15 using the Korean birthday system!). For a national cinema so young, it really has come along leaps and bounds, but the more interesting thing to me is what was it like before this point.

Does anyone know who the fuck this chick is and what she 

has to do with Shiri? I still can't figure it out!

We produced a video montage in the lead up to the film festival last year (KOFFIA), which covered a short history of Korean cinema. It proved to be very popular upon release, both with local and international audiences. It was rare to see coverage of films prior to this BH date (BH: Before Hallyuwood). It was beautifully edited by Kevin Park and with an equally delightful score by Samuel Choi, both who were just beginning to ply their trades. I thought I would reproduce it here on the blog as it really deserves to get as much exposure as possible. And yes, even it reflects the state of Korean cinema exposure, given only 6 films featured were released before the BH point, and 10 after it. But it gives a short glimpse into the history and progress the Korean industry has made, and maybe one day an extrapolated version would be produced by others fans around the world. Check it out below!

'The History of Korean Cinema', Thanks Kevin and Sam

Inside Out Busan: Live on the Radio!

While travelling to my first Busan International Film Festival in 2011, I received a request to take part in a local radio interview (Thanks for the recommendation, Darcy!). Basically the show had heard I was in town and that I was researching about Korean film and Korean film downunder, and swiftly hooked me up with an interview. After days of rescheduling, it was my time to take the plunge!

As the station's slogan suggests, it is covering the "English wave" coming in to Korea, rather intriguing given that I was researching the "Korean wave" coming in to English speaking territories. While a 30 minute live interview was daunting, and finding the station in the ever darkening sky of Busan by myself was a major challenge, I made in on time and had a blast.

Korean Perspectives at Sydney Film School

To celebrate the festive season, in what is a time for sharing, I am going to share with you the speech I delivered earlier this month at the 15th Sydney Film School Festival. The speech mentions trends currently apparent in the Korean industry, but also aimed to hopefully inspire the graduating students by comparing the school to conditions in Korea with KAFA. You can read more about the developments of the famous Korean film school which I previously discussed with SBS and Sandy George, or in more recent developments, an update from CJ E&M, CJ CGV and KAFA about their partnership. It is an intriguing filmmaking process that Australia should look closer at. Otherwise, Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy the speech! Thanks again to Ira Keller, Ben Ferris and SFS. 

"Good evening students, teachers, family and friends. I would first like to thank Sydney Film School for offering the Korean Cultural Office and myself to take part in today’s proceedings. I am speaking today on behalf of my Director Kim Young-soo, who is currently very busy preparing for the Closing Performance of the Australia-Korea Year of Friendship, which takes place this Friday. I have personally attended a number of Sydney Film School Festivals before which focused on other national cinemas, and I always wondered when would be the day that Korea cinema was the main event. Well today is that today and I am delighted to be standing here before you. (See the International Perspectives program on Korea here)

Jopok Week: 90's Korean Gangster Flicks

This entry was originally posted over at Modern Korean Cinema as part of the 2011 JOPOK blogathon week. I've replicated it here in case you missed it. Thanks again to Pierce Conran.

See other Jopok week reviews from various contributors:
Beat (1997)
The General's Son (1990)
The General's Son 2 (1991)
The General's Son 3 (1992)
No. 3 (1997)

Jopok Week: Born to Kill (1996)

I must admit, I probably approached Born to Kill (1996) in the wrong manner, one in which I thought it would be a good companion piece to Beat (1997) given their similarities.  After all, both films star Jung Woo-sung as an unstoppable fighting machine; are about gangsters; feature a leading love interest; are from the late 80’s and possess the style, music, and colour associated with the 80’s; and have titles beginning with the letter B.  At the end of the day, that is all they share in common.  Maybe it wasn’t fair to come in expecting something similar in quality to Beat.  Ultimately, Born to Kill is not as good a film and on a week celebrating Jopok, I recommend you stick to something else.

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?"