News: KOFA Uploads 15 More of Korea’s Best Films to YouTube for Free

By Pierce Conran

The Korean Film Archive (KOFA) has significantly expanded its YouTube channel, the Korean Classic Film Theater, after adding 15 new titles this summer. Among the new additions are rare titles from Korean cinema masters such as Im Kwon-taek, Yu Hyun-mok, Lee Man-hee, Lee Jang-ho, Kim Soo-yong and Ha Gil-dong.

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KOFA Treasures: Kim Soo-yong's The Seaside Village (갯마을, Gaenmaeul) 1965

Ongoing series on classic Korean film recently made available for free and with English subtitles on Youtube courtesy of the Korean Film Archive.

During this year's 14^th Udine Far Easy Film Festival I had the great privilege and pleasure of attending Darcy Paquet’s 1970s Korean cinema retrospective. As it turns out, among the ten features presented, some of my favorites were island dramas.  The three that were programmed (Iodo, 1977; Splendid Outing, 1978; and The Divine Bow, 1979) were fascinating works that were both quasi-horrors and compelling films about women, which highlighted their marginalized roles in society.  Characters in these films, especially women, were either transplanted to remote fishing islands, which for them became sites of horror, or grew up there without ever leaving, any attempts at escape doomed from the outset.

Kim Soo-young was behind Splendid Outing, a film that shares an enormous amount in common with Bedevilled (2010), to the point where it would not surprise me if it was actually the blueprint for Jang Chul-soo’s incendiary film. However, long before that, Kim made The Seaside Village, a stunning and deeply textured work from 1960s Korean cinema, which dabbles in some taboos that would likely not have been tolerated by the government at the time.

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KOFA's 'Classic Korean Film Theatre' Youtube Channel Goes Live!

The Korean Film Archive has launched its much anticipated "Korean Classic Film Theater" Youtube channel which features 70 different hard to find titles, all free and with English subtitles.  The films range from 1949's A Hometown in My Heart to Hong Sang-soo's 1996 debut The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well.  Numerous classic Im Kwon-taek, Kim Ki-young and Shin Sang-ok films are featured as well as many of the most important Korean classics of the past decades, including Yu Hyun-mok's Aimless Bullet (aka Obaltan, 1961), Park Kwang-su's Chilsu and Mansu (1988), or the original hostess film, Yeongja's Heyday (1976).

I'm dying to get stuck into the many I haven't seen but I highly recommend Im Kwon-taek's Sopyonje (1993), Kim Ki-young' Ieoh Island (aka Iodo, 1977) and the aforementioned Aimless Bullet.  Truly a phenomenal resource from KOFA and cause for celebration for all Korean film fans!

Enjoy!

Full list of films after the jump:

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Korean Cinema News (02/16-02/22, 2012)

It's a very good week to be a Korean cinema fan with numerous big announcements including Classic Korean film channel on YouTube, the release of KOFIC's free 2011 Korean Cinema book and the announcement of the 2012 East Winds Symposium and Festival which I am thrilled to say to say I will be presenting at.  Lots more news, interviews, trailer, posters, and box office as usual.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Classic Korean Film Channel Heading For YouTube

There’s been a big news story this week for anyone interested in classic Korean cinema: the Korean film Archive (KOFA) have announced a partnership with Google which will deliver a Video On Demand service through YouTube of seventy classic Korean films, ranging from 1949 to 1996 – seven of which will be of HD quality.  The answer to the big question is – yes – all of the films will have English subtitles.  (New Korean Cinema, February 18, 2012)

East Winds Symposium + Film Festival Schedules

(Modern Korean Cinema, February 21, 2012)

KOFIC Releases Annual Yearbook of Korea Film

Every year, the Korean Film Council compiles an exhaustive book on Korean cinema, with analysis of the year and profiles for every film released during that time.  It's a very useful resource and must for any Korean cinema fan, the 2011 edition is available to download for free now!

(KoBiZ, Febraury 2012)

KOREAN CINEMA NEWS

Daisy Entertainment Launches Sales with Taste of Money
South Korean company Daisy Entertainment, better known for their foreign film imports and increasingly visible distribution arm Cinergy, has launched international sales on director Im Sang-soo’s upcoming The Taste of Money.  From the director of Cannes competition film The Housemaid (2010), The Taste of Money stars veteran actress Youn Yuh-jung, who also played a supporting role in the former film.  (KoBiZ, February 9, 2012)

Lotte Announces New Jung Ji-woo Film
Major Korean investor and distributor Lotte Entertainment has announced Happy End (1999) director Jung Ji-woo’s upcoming film Eungyo (working title) at the European Film Market (EFM).  The film is currently in post-production.  Based on Park Bum-shin’s bestselling novel of the same title, Eungyo follows a 70-year-old poet who has an affair with a high school student and is inspired to write a book about her.  However, his best student, jealous of the relationship, steals this work.  The film stars Park Hae-il as the poet.  Park was most recently in War of the Arrows.   (KoBiz, February 10, 2012)

Lotte Sells Arrows in Berlin
South Korea’s Lotte Entertainment has done a raft of deals on Kim Han-min’s period action film War of the Arrows, including to Showgate for Japan.  Starring Park Hae-il as a man out to save his sister and her fiancé from Northern invaders, the film was the biggest domestic film hit in Korea last year.  With 7.46 million admissions, it was second only to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which took 7.79 million admissions.  (KoBiZ, February 14, 2012)

M-Line Launches Doomsday Book at EFM
South Korean film sales company M-Line Distribution has launched pre-sales on science fiction drama Doomsday Book, co-directed by Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung, according to the Screen International market daily at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.  Budgeted at US$5m, is made up of three short stories.  (KoBiZ, February 15, 2012)

Annyeong Mate! Sydney Says Hello, Again, to Cinema on the Park
Every Thursday evening between April and December last year, people lined up on Elizabeth Street in Sydney to see what has been one of the steady driving forces behind the popularity of Korean culture -- movies.  When the Korean Cultural Office launched the inaugural "Cinema on the Park" program last year, organizers just wanted to give the locals a taste of Korea.  After drawing more than 1,000 attendees, the event is back this year, kicking off a season that will last until the end of June.  (The Korea Times, February 17, 2012)

Second Film Preservation Center Due By 2014
South Korea plans to establish a second site for preserving and restoring homegrown films by 2014, since the existing location in Seoul is already overflowing with materials, the national film archive said Friday.  The Korean Film Archive said during a news conference in Seoul that it will construct the second preservation center on land in the publishing town in Paju, some 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul, with a total budget of 33 billion won ($29 million).  (The Korea Herald, February 17, 2012)

Korean Films at Deauville Asian Film Festival

The 14th Deauville Asian Film Festival in France has unveiled their line-up this year to include Jang Hui-cheol’s Beautiful Miss Jin and Jeon Soo-il’s Pink from theRepublic of Korea.  A drama/comedy set around Busan’s busy Dong-rae station, director Jang Hui-cheol’s Beautiful Miss Jin previously debutedat last year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in the Korean Cinema Today – Vision section.  (KoBiZ, February 17, 2012)

My Way to Open Terracotta Far East Film Festival
Terracotta is London's premier celebration of the film and culture of the Far East. With a stunning line-up of films hand-picked from the best of the region, encompassing diverse genres from comedy to drama to horror and everything in between, an unbeatable programme of exclusive cast and crew Q&As, intro's and masterclasses and fabulous public parties the Terracotta Far East Film Festival really does have something for everybody.  (Terracotta Film Festival, February 21, 2012)

Private Equity Funds Invest in Korean Films, Real Estate
Private equity funds have increased their holdings in real estate assets and projects related to the boom of the Korean Wave data showed Tuesday.  According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the country’s entire fund market estimated at 311.1 trillion won ($276.9 billion), with the share of private equity funds rising fast.  (The Korea Herald, February 21 2012)

The South Korean Film Industry in 2011
Made to support and promote South Korean films, the KOFIC has published this detailed overview of the year 2011*, trying to analyze trends & numbers.  Quite an interesting reading, here are some of the highlights.  (Wildgrounds, February 21, 2012)

INTERVIEWS

Lee Myung-se: Special Q&A Screening

Interview With Critic and Beijing Film Academy Professor Hao Jian
Film critic and Beijing Film Academy professor Hao Jian has written and talked about what he considers the little-known, real start of the Korean Wave in China.  At the International Film Festival Rotterdam while serving on the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award jury, he spoke to Jean Noh about it and his thoughts on Korea-China cooperation.  (KoBiZ, February 20, 2012)

TRAILERS

The Beat Goes On

POSTERS

Helpless

Introduction to Architecture

Over My Dead Body

Planet of Snail

BOX OFFICE

Howling Takes a Bite Our of the Box Office

(Modern Korean Cinema, February 19, 2012)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-up. Reviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site. 

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