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Marked by self-doubt, constant rebuke and the occasional stroke of good fortune, the path towards acting stardom is a popular narrative, not to mention an endless source of fodder for column inches across rags and glossy magazines alike. Though less myriad in its origins and not quite as glamorous, the road towards a professional directing career is also a fascinating source of success stories. While a few avenues exist, in Korea there are generally two ways by which a person can vie for a chance to wield the all-powerful megaphone: the apprenticeship route, or film schools.

 

Much like the Japanese Golden Age era filmmakers who rose up from the ranks of assistant directors, such as KUROSAWA Akira, IMAMURA Shohei or SUZUKI Seijun, many of today’s Korean filmmakers start off as ADs on the works of established filmmakers before getting their chance at bat. Equally popular is the film school path, with a handful of educational institutes rivaling the top film schools around the world in terms of alumni output. The two main film schools in the country are the Korea National University of Arts (K’Arts) and the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), a subsidiary of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC, Chairman – KIM Eui-suk).

 

The Korean Academy of Film Arts was set up in 1984 as a branch of the Korean Motion Pictures Promotion Corporation, which was later renamed the Korean Film Council. Following the local film industry’s decline in the 1970s and 80s, the academy was established to revive the stagnating film scene by providing practical training and modern technical know-how. Over the last 30 years, KAFA has trained personnel that have gone on to become some of the most influential figures in the domestic industry today. Notable graduates include directors Bong Joon Ho (Memories of Murder, 2003), KIM Tae-gyun (A Millionaire’s First Love, 2006) and IM Sang-soo (A Good Lawyer’s Wife, 2003), and cinematographer KIM Hyung-gu (The Host, 2006).   

 

In 2008, KAFA began a new masters program which gives a limited number of applicants the chance to make a feature length film with high quality equipment and major industry support, both during production and eventual marketing and distribution. The fruits of this course, known as the KAFA Advanced Program, are impressive works that have taken root at festivals overseas, with notable highlights including JO Sung-hee’s End of Animal (2010) and YOON Sung-hyun’s Bleak Night (2010). JO has gone on to the become a successful commercial director, delivering the hit fantasy melodrama A Werewolf Boy in 2012 and his KAFA debut is set to be remade in Australia.

 

The 6th KAFA Advanced Program consists of five features. One, INGtoogi: Battle of Internet Trolls, was already released last year and next month KAFA will present three of its new features from its 6th year. Two of them have already premiered at international film festivals and all are promising debuts from exciting new talents on the Korean film scene.

 

 

In YOO Won-sang’s revenge thriller Guardian, which premiered in the Busan International Film Festival’s Korean Cinema Today program, a man’s daughter is kidnapped. When he tries to follow the kidnapper’s instructions to get to certain locations to deliver ransom, he is always just a little too late. As punishment, he is ordered to do something unimaginable.

 

In HAN Seung-hun’s The Legacy a woman pulls her son out of school following disappointment with his scores and begins to homeschool him. He scores high on his GED and gets accepted to the prestigious Seoul National University’s Law School. But just as he is on the cusp of entering university his mother suddenly dies, as though her job as a mother was complete.

 

Whether genres works with a twist or dramas assiduously expounding on some of Korea’s social realities, the new crop of films from KAFA are both familiar within the realm of contemporary Korean cinema and progressive works that expand on previous themes from a fresh perspective.

 

 Another element of KAFA’s feature film production is its focus on animation. In 2010, KAFA produced The House, an animated film made by four student directors which screened at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Also a product of KAFA’s 6th Advanced Program is the feature-length animation Crimson Whale, which is currently in post-production. From director PARK Hye-mi, Crimson Whale takes place in the year 2070 when humanity faces a crisis due to significant seismic and volcanic activity. KAFA is also prepping the animation How I Met My Girlfriend for it 7th Advance Program from director JEON Yong-suk.

 

KAFA’s increased focus on animation comes during a time when Korean feature animations are gaining both domestic and intenationl exposure, through works such as YEON Sangho’s The Fake and JANG Hyun-yun’s The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow. With the theatrical market for family fare expanding in Korea, highlighted by the recent ten million admissions haul for Disney’s Frozen, KOFIC has pledged some USD 10 million in support of locally produced family fare.

 

 

Another three live action features are being produced by KAFA’s 7th Advanced Program. KIM Sung-moo’s The Night of the Prophet deals with a private investigator who searches for a young, diligent woman who was kidnapped by a member of a doomsday church she acted as a servant for during her youth. AHN Gooc-jin’s True Romance of Alice is a drama about a middle-aged woman who desperately tries to make ends meet while her husband lies in a vegetative state. She gets an opportunity to drag herself out of her financial quagmire, but things got awry. Lastly, HONG Seok-jae’s Social Phobia follows two people that are studying to pass their police exam who get embroiled in an investigation over a suspicious suicide that is broadcast online.

 

Fostering young talents, KAFA has been consistently introducing promising filmmakers to the Korean film industry. With the help of CJ Entertainment, which supports the international distribution and domestic releases of KAFA’s features, and the their impending move to Busan, where KOFIC already relocated last October, the Korean Academy of Film Arts is poised to increase its stature as a breeding ground for Korean cinema’s future visionaries.

 

By Pierce Conran