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It hasn’t been long since the second golden age of Korean film came into view and the market flourished. With the coming of multiplex theatres in 1998, the theatre going experience and exhibition environments changed and led to record-breaking hits that have come one after the other. During the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), a forum was held at the BEXCO Exhibition Hall on the 8th with eight panelists who have made a mark in contemporary Korean cinema history and came together to discuss the changes in the industry, the development of investment and distribution systems, and the problems that have come with these changes.

 

The attendees included director KANG Woo-suk of Silmido (2003), director KANG Je-kyu of Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War (2004), producer CHOI Yong-bae of The Host (2006), director YOUN Je-kyun of Haeundae (2009), producer WON Dong-yeon of Masquerade (2012), producer KIM Min-guk of Miracle in Cell No.7 (2012), producer CHOI Jae-won of The Attorney (2013) and director KIM Han-min of Roaring Currents (2014). The session was moderated by KIM Hyung-joon who also produced Silmido.

 

Silmido set the bar in early 2004, by becoming the first film in Korean history to hit 10 million admissions. It was soon followed by Taegukgi and the list went on. It is notable that many of these films deal with stories or concepts that had previously not been explored. The Host and Haeundae¸ explored what was ill-viewed in the past, Korean CG technology as well the monster and disaster genres, while King and the Clown (which also hit 10 million admissions) and Masquerade mixed period films with taboo themes such as homosexuality.

set the bar in early 2004, by becoming the first film in Korean history to hit 10 million admissions. It was soon followed by and the list went on. It is notable that many of these films deal with stories or concepts that had previously not been explored.and ¸ explored what was ill-viewed in the past, Korean CG technology as well the monster and disaster genres, while (which also hit 10 million admissions) and mixed period films with taboo themes such as homosexuality.

 

Although the development of the Korean film industry is good news, there are also problems that have come with the changes. WON Dong-yeon mentioned that one of the major problems right now is vertical integration. The conditions of the production sector haven’t changed much, although the standard insurance policy has came into effect. Not only that, theatre monopolization has been an area of debate for a while. However, the monopolization is dependent on audience demand. The question is whether there should be a law that limits the number of screens a film can play on. With support from a few other panelists, WON also talked about the need for clearer information concerning the digital market. The Korean Box Office Information System (KOBIS) offers up-to-date statistics but it doesn’t take into account IPTV and other digital-online distribution figures. As the digital-online market is also becoming a prominent part of film distribution and exhibition, it is necessary that both offline and online box office reports become available on KOBIS.

 

Another reoccurring comment was that securing investment is still very challenging in the Korean film industry. Producer CHOI Yong-bae had a hard time finding supporters as they were unsure how The Host would be able to visualize a monster realistically. The same went for Haeundae’s YOUN, who was asked by investors how the tsunami would be made through CG. Producer KIM Min-guk took a different view and offered that scenario development support is also very necessary. Education and support from the baseline acts to strengthen the system as a whole.

 

For each panelist, having their films hit 10 million admissions was quite an experience, although no one expected it. There are still many areas in need of improvement and with the rise in demand for domestic films, there are bound to be more films that set new benchmarks as they break previous records, just as we saw with Roaring Currents this year.