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For over ten years the Korean film industry has made a name for itself on the world’s film stage, as distributors from international markets have increasingly turned their focus towards the nation’s eclectic industry. Korea’s broad output gives it a lot of reach across the world as it has an ample supply of titles able to satisfy the various viewing preferences of different markets. Traditionally, fare with a more melodramatic bent has found success in Asian territories while arthouse titles that haven’t always found success in Korea have been popular with buyers in European nations. Thrillers and some of Korea’s most high profile features have had the most global success, with select titles selling to countries on every continent. However, although some major trends can be seen on certain continents, the picture is far more complicated than those broad strokes. With almost 1000 sales recorded per annum, many to multiple markets at the same time, Korean films of all shapes and sizes have demonstrated a surprising ability to appeal to disparate markets.

 

Korea’s Asian neighbors, due to their proximity to the peninsula and similar viewing patterns, are unsurprisingly the top buyers of Korean films. Countries from Southeast Asia in particular, where elements of the Korean wave such as K-dramas and K-pop are very popular, record dozens of Korean film buys per annum. Romantic fare is especially popular with recent titles such as Marriage Blue (2013), Steal My Heart (2013), Very Ordinary Couple (2012), How to Use Guys with Secret Tips (2012) and Queen of the Night (2013) selling across the continent. Melodramas such as Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2012) and genre fare like the period drama Masquerade (2012) and gangster comedy Return of the Mafia (2012) (the fifth installment in the Marrying the Mafia franchise) have also found success on the continent with their appealing dramatic elements.

 

Among the companies that keep returning to Korean cinema in the region are Emphasis Video Ent. in Hong Kong, Indonesia’s Net Media Global Limited, which specializes in snapping up TV rights, and MATV (Asia) Limited, an outfit that secures titles for Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Laos and Myanmar. Chances are that if you take an Asian flight these days you will be able to watch Korean films during your trip. One of the companies that has been aggressively taking Korean titles to the skies is Singapore’s SKY MEDIA.

 

The main distributor of Korean films in Vietnam is Lotte Cinema Vietnam, which brings in its own titles as well as securing some others from Korea, such as Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2012), Cold Eyes (2013) and Hide and Seek (2013), all from Finecut. But still the biggest importer of Korean films in Asia is Japan, where a panoply of sales outfits snatched around 70 titles in the last year that cover a wide spectrum of styles. Also of note is China where not too many Korean films are screened theatrically but internet rights have proven very popular with over 100 films sold to the country.

 

 Countries in Europe tend to be more particular about the films they select from Korea, though within the continent tastes are also quite varied in different regions. Some names in Korean cinema have developed a strong reputation in Western Europe that rival or even surpass those they have on their native soil. Among them are the auteurs KIM Ki-duk and HONG Sangsoo. KIM’s Pieta (2012), which picked up the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, has been his most successful film to date, but most of his titles can count on distributors in places like France and Italy who will snatch up rights. Also popular in Europe are HONG’s films, which are particularly popular in France. Italy features a balance of commercial and arthouse Korean fare with Tucker Film grabbing genre productions such as The Berlin File (2013) and some of RYOO Seung-wan’s older films and Movies Inspired gravitating to the art films of KIM and HONG.

 

Elsewhere in Europe, in places such as Germany, Scandinavia and the Balkans states, sales companies favor Korean cinema’s polished output of genre fare. Recent features that sold well in the region have included the aviation action-drama R2B: Return to Base (2012 - Scandinavia, Former Yugoslavia, Russia), inferno pic The Tower (201 - Yugoslavia, Hungary, Scandinavia, Czech Republic, France) and spy thriller The Berlin File (Yugoslavia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France).

 

In the UK, three distributors have shown a keen interest in Korean films. Third Window Films boasts an eclectic lineup of titles including Boomerang Family (2013), Pluto (2013), How to Use Guys with Secret Tips, Bleak Night (2010) and Behind the Camera (2012) while Terracotta recently bought YEON Sangho’s The King of Pigs (2011) and KIM Ki-duk’s Crocodile (1996) and Arirang (2011). Meanwhile, Dreadnought Media picked up five HONG Sangsoo titles, including recent ones HaHaHa (2010) and In Another Country (2012).

 

Compared to Asia and Europe, the Americas record comparatively fewer sales of Korean films but nonetheless a steady influx of features, particularly genre titles, have made their way to the continent.

 

Unsurprisingly, most of the business takes place in the US and Canada as Korean companies are keen to break into that large market. CJ Entertainment self-distributes a number of its titles in North America with its subsidiary CJ CGV America through its LA location and various AMC Theaters. Their titles include Killer Toon (2013), The Flu (2013) and Blood and Ties (2013), but it has also brought titles from Korean competitors, including Hide and Seek (2013), The Fake, Love Fiction (2012) and Miracle in Cell No. 7. One of the biggest US buyers of Korean films is Well Go USA, which favors genre fare like The Suspect (2013), Commitment (2013), A Company Man (2012), Confession of Murder (2012) and the current Korean hit The Attorney (2013). KIM Ki-duk’s recent films Pieta and Moebius (2013) were picked up by Drafthouse Films (which issued a Mondo poster in the film’s marketing) and Film Movement, respectively. Other arthouse titles that have made it into North America include LEE Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine (2007), which was acquired by IFC films and became the first Korean title to be issued on the prestigious Criterion Collection DVD label.

 

While North America is more likely to select titles from Korea’s pool of genre films, South American countries, much like Europe, have also demonstrated an interest in auteur films of HONG Sangsoo. The most active South American distributor for Korean film is Borsalino which has been keen to pick up genre films like Snowpiercer (2013), New World (2013), Confession of Murder (2012) and Montage (2013), as well as some older titles such as Memories of Murder (2003) and Silmido (2003).

 

By Pierce Conran