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A Promise (1998) would be a major example. This film was released during the melodrama craze towards the end of the 1990s, depicting the desperate love between Sang-du, a gangster boss (PARK Shin-yang), and Hee-ju, a medical doctor (JEON Do-yeon). Sang-du is wounded during collision with a rival gang and falls in love with Hee-ju who medically treats him, though he ends up being chased by the police. Hee-ju wants to stay with him but it is time for him to leave, and they get married by themselves at a Catholic Church. This scene, shot in Jeon-dong Catholic Church in Jeonu, has triggered Korean cinema and TV drama to focus on Catholic Churches as a new shooting venue.

 

There are more films shot at this Catholic Church located at the entrance of Jeonju Hanok Village. One of them is My Father (2007): James Parker (Daniel Henney) adopted into an American family at age 5 is a GI in Korea who campaigns to save his father (KIM Young-cheol) under sentence of death, and the place where he demonstrates with a picket is the front of Jeon-dong Catholic Church. It is also where three Taoist wizards get together in a fantasy action film Woochi (2009). In Woochi, Hwadam (KIM Yun-seok) also confronts with evil ghosts here.

 

Catholic Churches in cinema usually represent an atmosphere of archaism, but Umyeon-dong Catholic Church in Seoul in Everybody Has Secrets (2004) is a modern and pretty architecture where Mi-young (KIM Hyo-jin) and Soo-hyun (LEE Byung-hun)’s wedding takes place. Built in 2003, it marks the place which shines the most in the film, where a number of beautiful, luxurious places boast their appearances.

 

 

In a film where a priest is the main character, Catholic Churches are surely the central venue. Recently released The Priests (2015) would not have been possible if not for help from various Catholic Churches. This film features several Catholic Churches with distinctively different architecture styles. Those include but are not limited to: Myung-dong Catholic Church in Seoul which is the center of Korean Catholicism; the Anglican Church which is the only Catholic Church in Korea that still has traditional Byzantine mosaic; and Kyesan-dong Catholic Church in Daegu that is built in Romanesque style.

 

Some films present a view of Catholic Churches in the nature. Season In The Sun (2003) is about children in the countryside, and is set in Suryu Catholic Church in Gimje, Jeonbuk Province. Love, So Divine (2004), a romantic comedy that involves a seminary student in the lead role, was shot at Gasil Catholic Church in Waegwan, Gyeongbuk Province. 

 

Then which film would you say features the most memorable Catholic Church scene? Probably Poetry (2010) by LEE Chang-dong does. There is a girl who committed suicide. It turns out that a group of boys raped her and it caused her a tremendous shock. At the mass in memory of the girl, neither the boys nor their parents show up. Nobody asks for forgiveness. Mi-ja (YOON Jeong-hee) is the only one to come to ask for forgiveness for her grandchild. And she writes a poem for the dead. In the film, the Catholic Church acts as a place that reminds of the guilt and makes sinner confess through poetry.