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These days you can often come across brand new independent film productions that are doing great. They are ATO (The World of Us by YOON Ga-eun, and Yongsoon by SHIN Joon), Bomnae Films (Autumn, Autumn by JANG Woo-jin and The First Lap by KIM Dae-hwan) and Deep Focus (Ash Flower by PARK Suk-young), just to name a few, adding vitality to Korean independent cinema today. 

Let us take a close look at KwangHwaMoon Cinema first, to have a clear idea of these new studios. They are in a way a product of KwangHwaMoon Cinema as the company has had a heavy influence. KwangHwaMoon Cinema is a production company made up of several directors, one of whom is KIM Tae-gon of The Pot, a 2009 psychological horror. KIM Tae-gon’s Sunshine Boys (2013), which is the very first product of KwangHwaMoon Cinema, was invited to the 42nd edition of Rotterdam International Film Festival after attending a few domestic film festivals. The King of Jokgu (2014), their second film, had a great presence in Korean cinema, sending AHN Jae-hong, the lead actor, to stardom and becoming a great box office hit with more than 43,000 accumulated viewers. The Queen of Crime (2016) featuring an ordinary hairdresser becoming a detective also had great success with about the same accumulated viewers as their previous film. KwangHwaMoon Cinema opened a new trend for independent cinema where common characters representing ordinary people are blended with various genres like drama, comedy and thriller. They are currently producing Little Princess which centers around a young runaway housemaid, directed by JEON Go-woon and featuring E Som and AHN Jae-hong. 

As KwangHwaMoon Cinema became more successful, companies with similar structures built on personal networks began to appear. JANG Woo-jin and KIM Dae-hwan, hometown friends, made Bomnae Films, Bomnae being another name for Chun-cheon, the city where they are from. JANG, whose film A Fresh Start (2014) won the Grand Prize at the Korean Competition at the 15th edition of Jeonju International Film Festival, is making great synergy with KIM, whose End of Winter (2016) received the New Currents Prize at Busan International Film Festival before marching to Berlinale. JANG’s Autumn, Autumn, Bomnae Films’ first film, has received the Director’s Prize in the Vision section at the 21st edition of the Busan International Film Festival and has also been invited to the 67th edition of Berlinale. Moreover, KIM’s The First Lap, which is their second film, has made it to the Jeonju Cinema Project, a feature production promotion program at the 18th edition of Jeonju International Film Festival. It is interesting that Bomnae Films has been made in the hope that these promising directors may keep up their own vision. They are working closely together, with KIM producing JANG’s film and vice versa, being the greatest supporter for each other. 

ATO has evolved from a producer network. ATO consists of 4 producers, namely, KIM Soon-mo, KIM Ji-hye, LEE Jin-hee and JE Jeong-ju, all graduates from Korea National University of Arts, each working on their own project. Their first film was The World of Us (2016) by YOON Ga-eun who had a great presence at international film festivals with her shorts like Guest (2011) and Sprout (2013), and the next film is Yongsoon by SHIN Joon, produced by KIM Ji-hye, making great news again. Their films mostly focus on the lives of little girls, for example, The World of Us was a sensitive portrait of the friendship and conflict amongst elementary school kids and Yongsoon shows a teenage girl hurt by her dad’s re-marriage. These films show a new opportunity for Korean independent cinema. ATO is currently working on KIM Jong-woo’s Home and SHIN Dong-seok’s Survivor. 

Whereas Bomnae Films and ATO are collectively run by directors and producers, Deep Focus is a one-man producer and distributor. AN Bo-young is a former producer at Cinema DAL, a classic Korean independent film production, and has been working on documentaries including Tour of Duty (2016) and DEAR GRANDMA (2016). Deep Focus was finally launched when PARK Suk-young invited AN to produce Ash Flower for him, which is the last piece of his ‘flower trilogy’ which also includes Steel Flower (2016) and Wild Flowers (2015). AN is also working on distribution of Ash Flower, with help from his experience on Night Flight (2014) by LEESONG Hee-il and The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol (2014) by LEE Sang-ho. It was her belief that the filmmaker himself or herself may make the best distributor and promoter, to make the best out of what little budget they have. Deep Focus was made to produce Ash Flower, a film on a teenage girl, and AN is hopeful to take one step further and produce films on women’s issues with women directors in the future. 

 

KIM Dong-hyun, the committee chairman of the Seoul Independent Film Festival, welcomes the new trend in Korean independent cinema in the sense that “these new independent film productions are made through filmmakers’ networks, and producers are gaining leverage.” So far two major independent film productions, namely, Cinema DAL and INDIESTORY, have been the source of Korean independent cinema, but it is obvious they cannot embrace all independent films. In addition, new generation directors need new producers. KIM reckons that “great producers added expertise and inspiration, bringing out diverse themes, subject matters and styles.” She also hopes that “as we have more producers specialized in independent cinema, directors will be able to focus on making films and planning will be allocated to producers, making the whole system more professional, making it easier for creators to lead the industry, as opposed to big investors and film companies.”