This article examines the global popularity of South Korea’s contemporary commercial cinema within an Australian context. It uses audience survey findings, industry interviews and national classification database records administered by the Office of Film and Literature Classification to show how the diffusion of Korean popular culture – better known as the ‘Korean wave’ (pronounced Han Ryu or Hallyu in Korean) – has spread beyond Asia’s cultural borders. This case study analyzes distribution, exhibition, and reception profiles of specific South Korean films, arguing that the Korean cinema is expanding its place in the Australian film market. Despite meeting limited but growing success in Australia to date, this study provides preliminary insight into the larger penetration of Asian cinema in the Australian market.[1]
The majority of films exhibited in Australia originate from the US. Historically Hollywood has ruled supreme Down Under. American films dominate between 80 and 90 percent of the film exhibition market while the rest of the world competes for the remaining scraps – including Australian films, which have been suffering from an emaciated domestic market share of 1.5 to 5 per cent. In the not-too-distant past, South Korean (hereafter, just Korean) films rarely appeared in the remaining 10 to 20 per cent market share. In addition, the Australian film industry has had limited interaction with the Korean film industry except a small number of short-term relationships between the two countries involving one-off post-production projects such as Shadowless Sword(2005), A Petal (1996), and Single Spark (1996), completed at Soundfirm; and Musa (2001), Happy End(1999), Wanted (1997) and The Ginko Bed (1996), mixed at Audioloc in Sydney. [2]
However, over the last decade Korea’s commercial cinema has gradually experienced a level of unprecedented growth at home and abroad. Korea’s film industry has been adopting the business models of Hollywood, such as the high concept, big budget, special effects and marketing campaigns (spin-offs, tie-ins, merchandizing, licensing, taglines, product placement and online supplementation) in order to survive and resist Hollywood’s global dominance. In 1991, 21.2 per cent of all films screened in Korea were locally-made films (Korean Cinema 2000: 265). But after steadily rising by the end of 2006, the domestic market share of Korean films has nearly tripled to 61.2 per cent (Korean Cinema 2006: 495). By global standards the dominance of Korean films in its own domestic exhibition market is an extraordinary cultural triumph few other countries apart from India and the US have ever achieved. This success has flowed to the export market. The total value of Korean film exports in 2005 was almost $76 million US dollars, which is 365 times more than that of 1995 (Kim et al. 2004, p. 179-180).
The Korean Cinema has grown to be one of the fastest-growing pan-Asian film industries, spreading Korean popular culture, better known as the Hallyu/Han Ryu or ‘Korean wave’ throughout East Asia. Initially it was the popularity surrounding Korean TV dramas that launched this wave across Asia in a big way and in the Middle East and Latin America in smaller ways. In each case, the arrival of the Korean wave of popular music, film and culture has demonstrated unique peculiarities over time, which gives us significant insights into the intersections of the global and the local.
This article focuses on the recent rise of the distribution, exhibition and reception profile of contemporary Korean films in Australia, arguing the Korean wave has spread beyond Asia’s transnational cultural borders. Statistics from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA), Nielsen EDI Australia, Office of Film and Literature Classification (hereafter OFLC) and Korean Film Council (KOFIC) are used in our historical investigation. As a key foundation for the rest of the study, the article begins with an analysis of theatrical release, distribution and exhibition of three indicative releases: Lies (1999); Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring (2003); and Old Boy (2003). Next is a discussion of the film festival strategies that form a cultural front. Then television sales and exposure are discussed as well as niche diasporic connections at local Asian shops and the technology shift to DVD release. Before concluding the article provides a summary of audience survey findings collected at an advance screening of the Korean blockbuster monster movie The Host (2006) – the most popular and financially-successful Korean film ever in the Australasian region, generating combined box office takings of approximately AUD$450,000 for Australia and New Zealand (Madman, 2005). Finally an analysis of government support for the film industry is used to conclude how Hallyu has spread beyond Korea’s borders. This success surrounding Korea’s domestic and export screen production industries – aka ‘Hallyuwood’ (the fusion of Hallyu and Hollywood) – across the last ten years of expansion is heavily indebted to puissant government support.
Theatrical: Release, Distribution, and Exhibition
Commercial cinema releases of Korean films are a relatively recent phenomenon. The first Korean film released in an Australian cinema was the animation Starchaser 3D, Legend of Orin (1985) in August 1986. Although often mistaken for an American film, it was actually a co-production between the US and Korea – produced by Young Sung Production Co. and Daewoo Entertainment, which at that time was one of Korea’s largest family-run chaebal conglomerates. After Starchaser there was a 16-year hiatus until the next commercial screening of a Korean film. The eye-opening encounter that reintroduced Korean films to cinemas in 2002 was Jang Sun-woo’s sexually-confronting Lies. Distributed by Nuvision, Lies earned $16,285 in February 2002 during a one-week run at three different art-house cinemas, drawing an average audience of 1,258 (Nielsen EDI, ‘Australian Films’ 2005). This hybrid-genre film contains documentary elements, portraying realist pornography and candid interviews with the central actors who discuss their thoughts and fears about performing the sex scenes. Part of the shock value of the films is the way in which the actors offer frank views about how the film might affect their future careers and society in general. Jang has been long recognized in Korea as one of the country’s most controversial filmmakers. At the time of Lies’ Australian release, Geoff Gardner, past Director of the Melbourne International Film Festival in the early 1980s, contemplated how the film and its promotional materials would appeal to an audience looking for a provocative filmic experience (Gardner, 2005).
After the release of Lies, art-house and mainstream cinema audiences had to wait for the exhibition of new Korean films. Director Mo Ji-eun’s Perfect Match (2002) appears to be the only other film with a commercial release in 2002 (November). Its box office earnings were too small to be recorded in the annual industry statistics recorded in Nielsen EDI Australia’s Film Source (2005). Nevertheless, 2002 was a watershed year for the reintroduction of Korean films – not due to its two public releases, but because of the critical reception of a number of Korean films screened at film festivals such as the 51st Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF, see below).
According to Australia’s Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act of 1995, every film, whether publicly screened at a cinema or distributed on video/DVD, must be submitted to the OFLC for classification purposes before it can become accessible to the public. Though sometimes there can be inconsistencies with data reporting, the OFLC website contains an extensive database of films that have been submitted for these purposes, with the exception of private screenings in institutional film courses, film festivals and prints/videos without English subtitles presumably for exhibition at an ‘ethnic’ cinema. A search by country (‘Korea’) reveals the annual number of films and television shows meant for commercial release and/or video sales/hiring in the retail market. Applications concerning 72 different Korean films, including one co-production with China and another with Japan and Hong Kong, have been submitted for censorship and classification approval since 1989. They were all approved. Between 2001 and 2007, the number of submissions to the OFLC has increased dramatically. A majority of applications between 2001 and 2002 sought permission for public exhibition while applications in 2003 and 2004 were predominantly for both public exhibition and sale/hire purposes. However, between 2005 and 2007 (as of 15 October), 70 per cent or 19 applications only concerned sale/hire intentions while the other 30 per cent were for theatrical release. Reasons for these changes are discussed below.
Before The Host, films that had made it to commercial screens generally ran for about one week in major capital cities in art-house cinemas such as Melbourne’s Lumiere, Nova or Cinema Europa at the Jam Factory. For example, Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring (hereafter ‘5 Seasons’ – our abbreviation), which prior to The Host had generated the largest box office takings of all Korean films in Australia, was exhibited in six cinemas for one week beginning in September 2004. The film’s New Zealand-based distributor, Rialto Entertainment, took $298,388 AUD at the box office with an average of 6,981 tickets sold for 5 Seasons at each cinema (Rialto, 2005). This figure is roughly six times higher than that of Old Boy(which received a standing ovation at Cannes in 2004).
Audiences seem to have been impressed by 5 Seasons’ Zen-like atmosphere and easy-to-follow narrative. The film’s use of silence translated well. However, what stood out the most to audiences and critics was the beautiful, luring cinematography, which abounds with ‘Oriental’ sentiment. Film critic Margaret Pomeranz, who is a well-known member of the Australian Advertising Standards Board and past President of the Film Critics Circle of Australia, stated: “‘Spring, Summer’ is a much more contemplative, much more Buddhist film than the earlier ones I’ve seen” (Pomeranz, 2005). However, unlike the success of 5 Seasons, and despite his growing international reputation, Kim Ki-duk’s next film, 3-Iron (2004), did not do as well when it was released in 2006.
One surprise concerning the reception of Korean cinema in Australia to date has been the disappointing performance of Park Chan-wook’s internationally-acclaimed Old Boy. This film, which is hailed by critics and fans as a thrilling brew of Takeshi Kitano, Quentin Tarantino and Sam Peckinpah – with attitude (Buckmaster, 2005) – failed to sell more than an average of 2,000 tickets at each of the seven cinemas screening it in March 2005 (Nielsen EDI, ‘Australian Films’ 2005). In Korea, this was one of the top three domestic films in 2003/2004 (the film was released in December 2003), attaining nearly 1,190,000 admissions in Seoul alone and 3,269,000 nationwide (Korean Film Observatory p. 9). However, despite the high hopes of knowledgeable industry people, academics and cinephiles, the poor reception of Old Boy was symptomatic of the low recognition in Australia of Korean cinema in general. It also suffered from a lack of known stars, and a high level of violence, which some Australian audiences might not have been ready for or expecting. The film’s Australian distributor, Rialto Entertainment suspects that the illegal downloading and pirate circulation as well as the parallel importing of the DVD (by Asian grocery shops) since its Korean release played a role in its paltry box office results (Rialto, 2005). Anyone interested could have bought or hired Old Boy from a number of Asian grocery or newsagent shops. The film’s box office takings of $56,444 AUD were hardly enough to cover Rialto Entertainment’s costs of importing and promoting this international favorite.
There are numerous reasons why Korean (or any other Asian country’s) films might fail in the Australian market. A larger study comparing the performance of Asian films in the Australian market is needed. Suffice it to say that a film’s domestic success or lack thereof is not necessarily a predictor of its potential international reception and success – nor are the total number of OFLC classification applications searchable by country. Hong Kong and Japan by far have the greatest number of approved applications for public exhibition and/or video sale/hire – numbers exceeding well over the display limits in the OFLC database. It might be that qualitative and anecdotal findings point to a larger problem in Australia – namely, lower cinema attendance overall. Hence, the general lack of popularity surrounding any Korean or Asian film for that matter may not be mysterious after all. Nevertheless, the small number of Korean films released in cinemas to date may be early in the growth of Korean films in Australia. While Old Boy’s failure may have been disappointing, the relative success of 5 Seasons and the definitive success of The Host have caused others to applaud. Exhibiting films outside of commercial and mainstream spaces has helped to make this happen.
The Culture Front: Film Festival Strategies
Recently, Australia’s top film festivals have been focusing on Korean films. The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), one of the longest-running festivals, has strongly supported the Korean cinema. Since the late-1990s, thanks to programming advisors such as Michael Campi, MIFF has demonstrated a comprehensive interest in Korean cinema by showing a host of quintessential films.
While concentrating on Asian cinema, the 51st MIFF in 2002 held a major retrospective on controversial filmmaker Kim Ki-duk as well as a variety of commercial and art-house films, offering a total of 19 Korean features and four shorts to the festival’s record audience of 157,000 people. The festival also hosted a Q & A forum called ‘Riding the Wave’, where Kim Ki-duk introduced his filmography and engaged with the audience. More than 11,000 tickets were sold to the 40 sessions of Korean films (including multiple screenings of the same film). Press coverage showed great interest in the Korean program and promoted it by publishing articles in The Australian, The Age, The Sunday Age, InPress, Beat, The Melbourne Times, as well as a full range of film industry journals such as FilmInk, Empire Magazine, Realtime + Onscreen, Screen Internationaland Inside Film Magazine through to airing interviews with Kim Ki-duk and his sales agent Paul Yi on Radio National, 774 ABC Melbourne, Triple R, PBS, 3CR and SBS. (AFC, 2005) Korea’s emergence as a stirring and audacious hub for thought-provoking narratives and stunning visuals was widely aired.
In 2007 MIFF shone the spotlight on the Korean cinema in the ‘Neighborhood Watch’ and ‘Animation Gallery’ sections by inviting a program of recent feature, animation and documentary films such as: Breath (2007),Desert Dream (2007), Aachi & Ssipak (2006), A Dirty Carnival (2006), Family Ties (2006), My Friend and His Wife (2006), Time (2006) and Woman on the Beach (2006). These are some of the domestic films that have fought for and won screening time on Korea’s 1,500 nationwide screens. That is, they experienced a conundrum of not having enough screens and screening sessions to accommodate the oversupply of domestic feature films, which have begun squeezing their own kind out of the market.
Actively supporting the Korean cinema has been an emerging trend in festivals in other major cities. In 2004, the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) showcased Memories of Murder (2003), Untold Scandal (2003) and A Good Lawyer’s Wife (2003) – all top ten films in Korea. Like the SFF, the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) also screened a number of Korean films. Yet, BIFF differentiated itself from other festivals by including independent Korean feature and short (both fiction and documentary), live action, animation, narrative and essay films. In 2005, Tony Rayns, Curator of BIFF’s New Cinema Reloaded Program, invited a group of Korean independent filmmakers as an attempt to peer deeper into the diversity of Korean cinema culture (Elder, 2005).
Related to international festivals but operating on a much smaller scale, is the mini film festival. One of the best examples of this boutique event is the annual Korean Film Festival sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is presented by the Embassy of the Republic of (South) Korea in Canberra and Consulate-General in Sydney. Beginning in 2000 as an annual touring event, the Korean Film Festival has showcased three to five popular Korean films dealing with particular themes, such as the transforming images of women in Korean films, aimed at promoting and exchanging Korean culture with Australia. Admission to all films is free, but tickets are difficult to obtain because screenings are usually packed. As part of the festival in 2004, My Tutor Friend (2003), Oasis (2002), Old Boy, Taegukgi (2004) and Memories of Murder were screened at independent cinemas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. In October 2005, the Korean Film Festival exhibited Untold Scandal, Maraton (2005), Good-bye My Little Brother(2005) and Crying Fist (2005), once again showing how the Korean film industry (as well as cultural industries more generally) has benefited from strong government support.
Another notable mini festival with a big impact has been the Sydney Asia Pacific Film Festival (SAPFF). Launched in 2000 by Paul de Carvalho and Juanita Kwok (with funding assistance from local, state and international government bodies as well as the Korea National Tourism Organization and the Japan Foundation), the 1st SAPFF showcased the Australian premiere of Nowhere to Hide (1999). Director Lee Myung-se and actor Park Chung-hun joined the opening night festivities to celebrate the diffusion of Korean and Asian films in Australia. Until its last year in 2004 as a community event, SAPFF served as an important channel for Asian films by organizing several short-term events such as the Korean Film Festival, Japanese Film Festival and Chinese Film Festival.
Special attention through retrospective and showcase programs at film festivals has been an effective platform for promoting Korean films. Regular media coverage surrounding film festivals feeds Australian audiences with knowledge about the uniqueness and diversity of the Korean cinema.
On the Small Screen: TV Sale and Exposure
On the small screen Korean films have begun to span the nation. The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – a free-to-air multicultural and multilingual public broadcaster – was one of the earliest buyers of Korean films, showing them sporadically at first in 1985 and then more regularly after 2002. The first three Korean films broadcast in 1985 were The Border and Mama, Prayer and Laughter. The pay television channel World Movies is another source for viewing Korean films. Occasionally, when a film is bought jointly by SBS and World Movies, it is broadcast on the pay channel first and then on the free-to-air twelve-months later. The number of Korean films purchased by SBS and World Movies has increased annually. One of their unique features is their ability to schedule multiple screenings of a single film within a twelve-month period, creating opportunities for repeat followings for films such as Shiri(1999), Old Boy, Nightmare (2000) and Phantom, the Submarine(1999).
Audience tastes are difficult to measure. Nonetheless, audience response to Korean films has been generally positive (SBS Television, 2005). In particular, The Ginko Bed (2000) and Shiriattracted larger numbers of viewers than expected. Average viewing ratings for Korean films on SBS have reached about 6 per cent per film, that is, 6 per cent of all Australians watching TV at that time are tuning in to SBS. At face value, this might seem a small number, but, considering that SBS is the 5th channel in Australia, the number might not be so small after all. Between 2003 and 2004, a total of 25 films appeared on SBS – nine in 2003 and fourteen in 2004. Five other films purchased soon after, including A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and Arahan (2004), and A Good Lawyer’s Wife, Hi-Dharma (2002) and The Way Home (2002), were made ready for broadcast in 2006/2007.
Access to both free-to-air and pay television channels, which aim to broadcast annual highlights of the contemporary Korean cinema along with films from numerous other countries, has been a valuable source for Australians interested in watching world cinema or who might not otherwise have access to such films. With its Korean screenings, SBS has exposed Australians to a mixture of cultures from around the world. Although in April 2005 New Zealand-based Advanced Open Solutions applied for approval to sell/hire multiple television episodes of The Undercover Lady Detective, it remains to be seen if one or more Korean soap operas, such as All In, Autumn Tale, Daejanggeun, Full House and Winter Sonata – all of which are central to the Hallyu phenomenon and extremely popular throughout East Asia and parts of the Middle East – will find their way to Australia’s pay TV and free-to-air screens.
Niche Markets: DVDs and Asian Connections at the Local Shop
Local ethnic video rental operations – usually connected to a grocery shop and/or news agent in a so-called Korea-town, China-town or simply the ‘Asian’ area of a town – offer large collections of DVDs and videotapes of the latest contemporary films and soap operas. A few years ago most video sources for Korean films, which came directly from Korea, did not contain English sub-titles. However, DVD technology has provided the means to include subtitles in various languages on most films. An increasingly larger percentage of products in the marketplace – of noticeably lower quality in terms of packaging and compression – are coming from China and can be found in ethnic DVD/VCD shops throughout Australia. Unquestionably these types of shops serve an important function of diffusing the latest Korean films and television programs to members of the Korean Diaspora and larger Asian community as well as other interested people. Data from these community sources is difficult to obtain and verify; suffice it to say, however, their role in the promotion and spread of the Korean wave in Australia is a significant factor. This ‘unofficial’ distribution channel has gone largely unregulated by the OFLC. The sheer volume of items available for hire or purchase has proved to be too much work for the OFLC. As a result, ethnic shops offer a service to the community, but they technically operate illegally under the Classification Act. That is, they fly under the OFLC’s radar, and it would appear it is left up to leaders of the various Asian communities to self-police unclassified products.
At the same time, there are several Australian distributors, including Rialto Entertainment, Force Entertainment, Accent Film Entertainment, Aztec International Entertainment and Hopscotch/New Vision, vying for exhibition (theatrical) and distribution (sale/hire) rights for some of the most popular Korean films as well as older classics for their product lines. Among the biggest, Madman Entertainment under its brand name of Eastern Eye has led the group with regularized releases of Asian live action and animated films, including: Volcano High (2001), Bichunmoo (2000), Musa, JSA (2000), Arahan and Taegukgi (aka: Brotherhood of War, 2004) and Silmido (2003) as well as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Sympathy for Lady Vengeance(2005), Spider Forest (2004), Untold Scandal, A Bittersweet Life (2005) and The Host in addition to a few feature-length animations such as Aachi & Ssipak – a violent futuristic story about diaper-wearing mutant smurfs and other armed-to-the-hilt street gangs out to acquire large quantities of ‘juicybars’, which the government awards to prolific defecators.
In Madman’s case, most films have been released directly to DVD. The company concentrates on the DVD market because of the limited box office and screening opportunities for the theatrical release of Korean and Asian films. In fact, Madman filed a majority of the Korean film applications for sale/hire in the OFLC database in 2006 and 2007. Madman also focuses on a smaller number of screenings at film festivals, such as the screening of Taegukgi at the 2004 travelling Korean Film Festival, and one-off single and double-bill movie nights, which promote new films prior to DVD release. Obtaining the full gamut of exhibition and sales rights for each film in their product line is key. Clearly for all distributors, building a loyal audience base and creating a demand for Korean films and films from other countries are prime strategies for further development. In this way, Korean and other Pan-Asian cinemas are creating new followings in Australia.
New Audience Tastes
As previously mentioned, the horror/sci-fi/action/family-drama/thriller/black comedy/blockbuster monster movie The Host has been the most successful Korean film in the Australian market to date. Yet, its success, which is now global in scope, should come as no surprise given that it is one of the first handfuls of cheonman younghwa or 10 million domestic audience pictures in Korea – enjoying this title along side of the King and the Clown (2005), Taegukgi and Silmido. In North America the film grossed $700,000 (US$) in less than two weeks, $1 million in Spain in twenty-one days, and in China The Host amassed $1.2 million in ticket sales in its opening two weeks in March 2007, becoming the top grossing Korean film ever to hit Chinese cinemas (Paquet, 2007). The advance screening of The Host and Q&A session at Popcorn Taxi in Sydney launched the film’s following down under.
Popcorn Taxi is a recurring film happening in which filmmakers and cinephiles gather in Sydney to watch films and to chat about the making of films. Before the February 2007 screening of The Host, 71 members of the audience completed a survey/questionnaire about their awareness, likes and dislikes, and exhibition patterns of Korean films. Their responses provide a specific example of the new following of Korean film awareness/marketing/research in the Australian market.
Based on the enthusiasm of the applause and the length of the Q&A session with its director Bong Joon-ho at The Host screening, the crowd enjoyed the film. Comments and questions directed at Bong Joon-ho reveal how Australian audiences have become intrigued by the Korean cinema’s freshness as a robust pan-Asian film industry. Particularly intriguing is the Korean cinema’s sense of new insights into the human condition, fresh pathos unavailable in Hollywood and other independent US films, ample black humor, well-choreographed action sequences and dramatic narratives.
Survey results suggest the obvious: that Australian filmmakers and film enthusiasts as well as aficionados of the Korean cinema are becoming increasingly intrigued by, and appreciative of, this fresh pan-Asian film industry and the larger presence of Korean popular culture. A majority of respondents began learning about and watching Korean films between mid-2002 and mid-2003, when films such as The Way Home, Friend(2001), Public Enemy (2002), Oasis, Marrying the Mafia (2002), No Blood No Tears (2002), Memories of Murder, A Tale of Two Sisters, The Classic (2003), A Good Lawyer’s Wife and My Tutor Friend (2003) began attracting word-of-mouth and media attention after being screened commercially and at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea and subsequently at the Sydney, Sydney Asia Pacific, MIFF and BIFF film festivals. Additional awareness increased through the Internet and television screenings on the SBS. News stories, interviews and reviews in film magazines and e-zines also served an important function in raising interest about the Korean cinema. For this audience at Popcorn Taxi, the spread of Hallyu (at least in the Sydney region) came about by an awareness of cinema rather than by the types of TV dramas fervently consumed across Asia.
By far the most popular sites of consumption are at home (on DVD/video purchased/rented) and at the cinema (Reading Cinema/Fox Studio/ Dendy). Film festivals and SBS rounded out the middle, while downloading from the web appeared to be a minimal method among members of this group.
For this group the appeal of Korean films revolves around originality in narratives and genre experimentation (genre bending), as well as innovative aesthetic and visual styles and a range of advanced (both conventional and unconventional) production techniques. One respondent recognized a mix of European techniques coupled with Korean creativity and vision, while another saw this as being eccentric and inventive but not as sentimental as Japanese films. Margaret Pomerantz, who was in attendance at this event, likes the boldness and the seemingly independent (not influenced by Hollywood) view of the world, while an unflinching expression of violence mixed with unabashed confrontational stories titillated most other participants.
Alternatively, for some the use of excessive violence, inaccessible local cultural references, overly melodramatic storylines and inconsistent levels in the quality of visual effects across the industry were turn-offs. Difficulty in finding regularized commercial and art-house screenings in Australia, and a general dislike for subtitles, also detracted from a small number of people’s attitudes towards Korean films. Overall, some participants felt the general need for interpretation or additional information/context in order to bridge the gap between Australian and Korean culture.
When asked to list some of the best Korean films participants had seen, by far the largest number responded with Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy and his previous film JSA. Other notable (multiple) responses included:Taegukgi, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, A Bittersweet Life, President’s Last Bang (2005), Memories of Murder, Nowhere to Hide, 5 seasons, 3-Iron, A Tale of Two Sisters and My Sassy Girl (2001), as well as several others mentioned only once.
Conclusion: Government Policy
This article has attempted to show how the Korean cinema has reached Australia. Since 2002, internationally-acclaimed Korean films have been released in commercial cinemas and thus exposed aspects of Hallyu to new audiences. The interest surrounding ‘Hallyuwood’ has inspired some of Australia’s key industry figures to learn as much as possible from this phenomenon as a way of better understanding this Asian neighbor and its success with film, television, new media and various other cultural products.[3] Here government policy and support stand out as key components.
Korea has had a long history of government intervention in the film industry, and this has not always led to positive outcomes for the domestic industry. Intervention by the Japanese during the colonial period (1910-1945), US Military between (1945-1948), and strict regulations during the Park Chung-hee administration (1962-1979) come to mind, not to mention the harsh censorship policy maintained until the late 1980s. However, since Kim Young-sam became President of the first democratically-elected civilian government in 1993, different approaches to cultural protectionism – primarily in the form of government subsidies, relaxed censorship policies and an overall focus on developing and protecting artistic expressions – have significantly contributed to the emergence of a new wave of popularity surrounding the Korean cinema.
Important initiatives launched during the Kim Young-sam civilian government (1993-1997), such as the Film Promotion Fund and Film Promotion Law, have helped the industry raise its competitiveness and investment of domestic capital in local productions. In 1999 the Kim Dae-jung government (1998-2003) proactively elevated government support for the film industry when it launched the Korean Film Commission, which changed its name to Korean Film Council in 2004. KOFIC is a semi-government-funded body charged with monitoring, promoting and improving the Korean film industry. Formerly known as the less liberalized Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation (KMPPC) until 1999, KOFIC has played a significant role in easing restrictive film policy and censorship and protecting a Screen Quota System – even after it was halved in early 2006 by President Roh Moo-hyun after 40 years of intense trade pressure from the US government and Motion Picture Association of America (Yecies 2007: 25).
KOFIC began making a significant impact on the Korean film industry at home and abroad after the government renamed it in 1999 and substantially increased its operating (research, promotion and publishing) budget. For promoting the export of the Korean cinema, KOFIC runs marketing booths at major international film festivals and industry market events, and provides travel grants and/or sponsors delegations of filmmakers and policy makers to attend these events. It also provides translation and subtitle support, production and distribution of promotional DVDs and publication projects about the Korean cinema in multiple languages.
Apart from a lion’s share of its own exhibition market, global recognition of the Korean cinema has focused on excellence in implementing film policy, developing and protecting creative industries, and genre experimentation – all of which has helped filmmakers to breathe a universality into their highly-original and stimulating narratives while maintaining a distinctly Korean sentiment. Unlike the situation in Australia, commercial, art-house, independent and animation filmmakers in Korea have benefited from highly active and efficacious quasi-governmental, ministerial and independent agencies, including the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), Film Industry Promotion Division of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Coalition for Cultural Diversity in Moving Images (CDMI).[4] These three organizations are predominantly responsible for shaping the policy-making landscape on which the Korean cinema rests.
The combined work of the CDMI, KOFIC and Ministry of Culture and Tourism has played a pivotal role in the development of Korea’s national film industry. As a result, Korean films have been honored regularly at most of the major international film festivals and the country’s own Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) has become the world’s largest showcase of Asian cinema as well as one of the primary pre-market hubs for regional co-production and co-financing opportunities through the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP).
Due to the popularity of what has become known as the New Korean cinema (Shin and Stringer, 2005), new channels have opened in Australia for introducing South Korean films through a variety of means, such as the theatrical release on the big screen, international and mini film festivals, DVD release and free-to-air broadcast on the small screen on SBS as well as on the World Movies pay TV channel. The video rental counter in the local ethnic grocery shop and news agency, which are unofficial distribution channels, have also begun to attract increasing Korean/Australian-Korean, Asian and non-Asian patronage. Both art and commercial films are receiving more attention from cinephiles and critics alike.
Yet, the success of the Korean cinema in Australia is defined in broad ways by festival screenings, DVD (predominantly pirated copies) and TV sales. Revenues to the film’s producers from these areas are minimal in contrast to an upfront theatrical sale, because it is the distributor who carries the poor box-office burden, not the producer.
Nevertheless, the promotion, distribution and exhibition of Korean films in Australia are integral parts of the larger Asian film scene, which at best has had a troubled past. That is to say, most Asian films released have had difficulty finding and sustaining non-Asian audiences. However, with time, and spread by word of mouth, iconic directors such as Wong Kar-Wai have begun to attract the public’s attention. For instance, his In The Mood For Love (2000) and 2046 (2004) performed better than expected at the box office with $670,421 AU$ and $407,261 AU$ respectively (Nielsen EDI, ‘Asian Film’ 2005). As such, it may also take time for Korean films and master filmmakers such as Im Kwon-Taek, Lee Chang-dong, Lee Myung-se, Hong Sang-soo, Kang Je-gyu, Kim Ki-duk, Lee Je-yong, Kim Ji-woon, Park Chan-wook and Im Sang-soo, to name a few, to achieve wider awareness, interest and commercial release.
One might say that Australia has been waiting for the Korean wave to reach its shores as other waves of Asian popular films such as the Japanese, Hong Kong, and Chinese have done in the past (and, one might argue, as India’s Bollywood films are now doing). At the same time, it seems local distributors, international and mini film festivals and television programmers are waiting for the great ‘crossover’ film or Korean Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to appeal to Asians and Westerners alike.[5] Only two other Asian films in the recent past – Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004) – did extraordinarily well at the box office. These were two films that became big in both Asian and Western markets, thus establishing the reputation of Chinese cinema in the minds of general audiences. The release of The Host is the closest Korean ‘crossover’ film to make inroads into the Australian market. Despite its box office performance, it too might have cast a wider net of interest.
At the time of writing, Korean films slowly are being released in a small number of independent cinemas. An even much larger number of films are shining on the screens of major international film festivals. Blockbuster and VideoEZY, Australia’s largest home video rental outlets, are also providig an increasing variety of Korean DVDs, while SBS-TV and World Movies pay-TV are thirsty for more Korean features, shorts, animations and documentaries. Illegal downloading seems to be on the rise as well. As a high-quality source of Pan-Asian cinema, Hallyuwood films are gaining momentum in Australia and adding diversity to Australia’s cinema scene.
Works Cited
Australian Film Commission (AFC), ‘Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade’s Inquiry into Australia’s Relationship with Korea’, Sydney: AFC, June 2005. Available athttp://www.afc.gov.au/policyandresearch/policy/trade/policy.aspx. Accessed 26 September 2005.
Brisbane International Film Festival website: www.biff.com.au.
L. Buckmaster, ‘Old Boy’ In Film Australia, 7 September 2005. Available athttp://www.infilm.com.au/reviews/oldboy.htm. Accessed 15 October 2006.
K. Eder, ‘Brisbane 2005’ Fipresci Available atwww.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2005/brisbane/brisbane_keder.htm. Accessed 24 September 2005.
G. Gardner, ‘Telling Tales. Or Heads and Tails: Lies’, Senses of Cinema No. 19 (March-April 2002). Available athttp://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/19/lies.html. Accessed 15 October 2006.
M. Kim, Y. Choi and B. Jeon, Analysis of Variables on Korean Film Industry Development (Hanguk Yeonghwa Saneuo Seongjang Yoin Bunseok). Seoul: KOFIC, 2004.
Korean Cinema 2000, Seoul: Korean Film Commission (KOFIC).
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Korean Film Observatory 14 (Winter 2004-05), Seoul: Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
M. Pomeranz, ‘Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring’, At the Movies, 23 September 2004. Available athttp://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1203169.htm. Accessed 15 October 2006.
Madman Entertainment. E-Mail Interview. 20 September 2005.
Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) website: www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au
Nielsen EDI Australia’s Film Source, ‘Australian Films Opening For: 1997… 2005 Aud’, In Film Source, Sydney: Nielsen EDI Australia, 2005.
Nielsen EDI Australia’s Film Source, ‘Asian Film Release 97-05’, In Film Source, Sydney: Nielsen EDI Australia, 2005.
Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) database. Available athttp://www.classification.gov.au/special.html?n=46&p=156
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Shin, C. and J. Stringer, eds., New Korean Cinema, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005.
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B. Yecies, ‘Parleying Culture against Trade: Hollywood’s Affairs with Korea’s Screen Quotas”, Korea Observer Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring 2007): 1-32.
Endnotes
[1] The Australia-Korea Foundation provided valuable funding for this collaborative study when it sponsored the “Welcome to Hallyuwood: Spotlight on Global Popularity of New Korean Cinema” panel at the 16th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) hosted by the University of Wollongong, 26-29 June 2006. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the ASAA conference. The authors thank the editors of Screening the Past and the anonymous referees for their editorial comments, and Ben Goldsmith of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School for inspiration in finding new ways to research the Korean Cinema.
[2] In 1997 Park Chung-hun’s Wanted was shot and posted in Australia with an Australian film crew. Korean production company Cine2000 arranged an industry screening at Sydney’s Village cinemas to celebrate the project’s completion. However, the film was not distributed locally and it seems to have been quickly forgotten.
[3]In September and October 2004, Australian Film Commission CEO Kim Dalton led an Australia-Korea Foundation sponsored industry delegation to meet high-ranking Ministerial, film policy and film industry people in Seoul and Busan. The delegation’s visit culminated in their attendance at PIFF#9 and an Australian-night industry party held at the Busan Aquarium. Sharing interests between the Australian and Korean film industries have never been more alive.
[4] CDMI is an independent and self-funded body formed from a screen quota watchers’ group that was established in early 1993 at a time when American distributors had dominated the Korean film market. CDMI monitors daily screening programs at cinemas across the country and their adherence to screen quota requirements, which had been in operation since 1966 but were generally overlooked. Before it was halved by the Roh Moo-hyun government in 2006, all theatre operators showing motion pictures had to show domestic films for 146 days per year while a possible reduction of 40 days was available at the discretion of the Minister of Culture and Tourism.
[5] Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon achieved the biggest box office gross for any Asian film ever released in Australia, earning a massive $11,240,620 AUD in 2001. See Nielsen EDI Australia. ‘Asian Film Release 97-05.’ In Film Source. Sydney, 2005.
Created on: Saturday, 15 December 2007