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Korean citizens overseas may long for Korean films as they reminiscence about their hometown, but it’s also the increase in the popularity of Korean films and the development of the medium in the country that started to draw international attention and resulted in the founding of four major annual Korean film festivals in Sydney, Paris, Florence and London. Their history and programming may differ, but they share the same goal: to bring Korean film and culture to their respective local audiences. Let’s take a look at the different festivals, their history and what challenges they face.

 

 

The Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) recognized that there was a lack of knowledge about Korean films in Australia. The only way for locals to access Korean films was through late night TV broadcasts from SBS, DVDs, YouTube and occasionally in theatres. In Sydney alone, there were already film festivals representing 20 other countries, with France being one of the first with its founding year dating back to 1990. Our festival can be considered late in the race, as we were established in 2010. In 2011, the Korean Cultural Centre was opened and became the sturdy backbone of the festival. Since then, we’ve grown and expanded our festival from Sydney to Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth. This year, the festival will be held starting in Sydney in mid-August, and will move to Canberra for a few days, then Brisbane in late August to early September, Perth in early September, Melbourne early to mid September and Adelaide to close off on September 26th.
-  JUNG In-ji, General Affairs & Finance Manager (Korean Cultural Office Australia)

 

The Paris Korean Film Festival (FFCP - Festival du Film Coréen à Paris) formed in 2006 and was initiated in order to move away from the cliché and stereotype that Korean films are mostly gruesome action thrillers. In the early 00s, most Korean films shown in the country were by well-known auteurs, which are limited and also formed a singular identity of Korean films. The festival wanted to expose the full depth of Korean films that are available. Our aim is to show the past, present and future of Korean film and their many aspects. The festival is usually held in the fall, and this year’s dates are from October 28th to November 4th for eight days near the Champs-Élysées. Last year’s programming consisted of 23 features and 22 shorts, with seven directors in attendance.
-   YOO Dong-suk, Festival Director (FFCP)

 

At first, the Florence Korea Film Fest (FKOFF) was a cultural event to get people in Italy to learn more about Korea. We felt that there were many similarities between Italy and Korea, yet these are countries that hardly know each other. The festival started small, but over 12 years it has grown and has collected increasing interest. It’s a 10-day festival with around 30 features and 20 shorts. This year, it was held from March 21st to 30th, and we had CHOI Min-sik in attendance along with directors SONG Hae-sung, HUH Jung, and PARK Myoung-rang.
-   CHANG Eun-young, Deputy Director / Festival Coordinator (FKOFF)

 

Through a survey by the Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK), we found out that Korean films were what people were most interested in when it came to Korean cultural content. It is also the best medium to communicate with people, so we decided that it would be the best way to expose Korean culture for our purposes. The London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) is organized and run by the Korean Cultural Centre, and was founded in 2006. The 9th edition this year will be held from November 6th for about two weeks. Originally it took place only in London, but now we have expanded to across the UK as well. We started with about 12 films in our first year and had 43 at last year’s edition, which was our most successful to date.
-   JEON Hye-jung, Artistic Director / London Korean Film Festival (LKFF)

 

JUNG: To be completely honest, it is still early for us to expect audiences that do not know anything about Korean films or have any relations to Korea to make their way to the festival. However, we have been receiving positive feedback from those that have attended. We take audience surveys every year in which at least 50% of our attendees participate; most people have enjoyed their time at the festival. Even if they’re not familiar with Korean films, they have been exposed to other Korean media, mostly dramas, K-pop or variety shows and are fans of SONG Joong-ki and WON Bin, or directors KIM Ki-duk, PARK Chan-wook and Bong Joon Ho. Some popular titles include Joint Security Area (2000) and Old boy (2003). Classic titles have also proven popular.

 

YOO: France is probably the most active market in Europe concerning interest in Korean films. It is the country that’s receiving the most attention out of all the Asian countries and there is even a strong Korean film fan base. Unfortunately after 2010, theatrical releases of Korean films have reduced and perhaps that’s why fans are more enthusiastic about the festival. For 2014, about five films are currently confirmed for theatrical release here and hopefully that’ll lead to many more.

 

CHANG: There’s no question that the interest towards Korean films has been expanding. There are many people that return year after year to the festival. In the beginning, it was mostly my family and friends that I asked to come, but now it is more than just the people I know.

 

JEON: After the screening of Hide and Seek, many of our audience members felt satisfied with this style of Korean thriller. One even said that they felt privileged to watch a Korean film in London, and another mentioned that they thoroughly enjoyed the Q&A with the director. Public Enemy (2002), despite being ten years old, was sold out, and The Times covered a spotlight story on director KANG Woo-suk. I can confidently say that most attendees were excited and interested in the types of stories Korean films were telling and were thankful that they had a chance to watch such films and meet the filmmakers.

 

 

JUNG: KOFIC has been helping us financially since our very first festival. We have a special relationship. The person that first organized and put together the inaugural festival in 2010 was someone who was studying for their Masters in Sydney but used to be an employee at KOFIC. I have taken over the task of looking over the festival since then.

 

YOO: In 2008, for our third edition, FFCP started to receive support from KOFIC through the France Korean Cultural Centre. We were very dependent in the beginning to receive KOFIC’s help, and after 2011, we were lucky enough to get more sponsors on board, but KOFIC is still our steadiest and strongest resource to help put on our festival.

 

CHANG: In the beginning, I had no background knowledge about film festivals. I went to KOFIC for help and I still remember Manager YOO who was so kind in helping us. Afterwards, Daniel PARK, along with many from his team have consistently helped the festival and that is the only reason we are still going on today.

 

JEON: We received the support program from KOFIC and also received other help such as contact information for Korean film sales and distribution companies. We still receive different kinds of help from KOFIC through various means.

 

JUNG: I can easily say that Masquerade (2012), which was a part of our 2013 programming, had the best turnout out of all of our screenings thus far. The locals enjoyed the cinematography of the period drama, and were impressed by the storyline and the quality of the film. Most of all, it stars LEE Byung–hun who is a familiar face to Australians. Out of the guests that attended the festival, director RYOO Seung-wan who visited in 2011 had the best reaction from our spectators.

 

YOO: Parisians were very satisfied with the opening and closing films of our 7th edition, which were Masquerade and The Thieves. They were also big hits at the Korean box office. Our tickets sold out extremely fast, and for our 8th festival we had to move to a bigger venue because of that. Other than the two titles mentioned, Magicians (2005), Breathless (2009), The Man From Nowhere (2010), Sunny (2011), Pluto (2012), Helpless (2012) and All About My Wife (2012) were received enthusiastically. During our closing night screening of Our Sunhi in 2013, the sidewalks of the Champs-Élysées were packed and almost had to be closed off.

 

CHANG: Local audiences are mostly interested in comedies or thrillers, and this year’s CHOI Min-sik retrospective, featuring a Q&A with the actor, was particularly successful.

 

JEON: Other than the two films mentioned, Boomerang Family, Public Enemy (2002), Fist of Legend, Behind the Camera, and Hope were enjoyed by many attendees.

 

JUNG: I would say 75% of our viewers are Australians, and most of them are in their 20s or 30s.

 

YOO: According to our 2013 survey, over 80% are French, about 9% are Koreans and others account for about 8%. It is usually males in their 20s and 30s that are interested in Asian films and Korean culture, but the 40s group is also quite large and there has been an increase in teenage audiences.

 

CHANG: Our audience groups are very diverse, aged from their 20s to 60s. Over 95% are Italians or non-Koreans combined.

 

JEON: I would say that over 70% would be local attendees including around 2000 film industry delegates and media.

  

 

JUNG: Our festival is special in the way that its outreach power is very dynamic. It covers all of Australia’s large cities and so instead of calling it the Sydney Korean Film Festival, we are able to call ourselves the Korean Film Festival in Australia. Even other film festivals in Australia visit only one or two cities for their event, and none are as extensive as our festival. We offer the same quality films we’ve selected to each city, the difference is the dates and length of the event. Unfortunately we are only able to bring guests to our Sydney portion of the festival.

 

YOO: What makes us different is that we’re a private organization run by regular people. We’re just film lovers who look to program great films with a unique perspective.

We also strive to build relationships with the local Korea and Asian film fan communities. There is consistent communication with these groups as our team itself is made out of fans from such groups. Not only are they the main source of our audience, but they’re also part of our core team. I think this is the reason why we have a very specific and unique atmosphere at our festival.

K.inema, which was put together 2012, is a special team that formed at our festival. K.inema recommends Korean films to other festivals in France and also for cultural activities, but mostly we focus on expanding and supporting the distribution of Korean films. We have directly and indirectly worked as a liaison for Korean film sales and distribution. We’re happy to say that they have been getting better results every year.

CHANG: With 50 or so Korean features and shorts every year, it is not an event just for Koreans overseas, but for local Italian filmgoers as well. It is a source to introduce Korea to the world and with an exciting new showcase for each festival, we try our best to give a better understanding of Korean cinema to our audiences and to introduce renowned filmmakers and actors as well.

 

JEON: I think the festival speaks for itself, as it faces its 9th year in one of the world’s four largest film markets. In the beginning, most of our viewers were film professionals and art film fans, but nowadays our audiences range from those interested in commercial flicks, indie films and shorts, showing that the variety in Korean films are attracting many different filmgoers. We’re currently the biggest Korean film festival in the world, and I believe we’ve assisted the expansion of Korean film festivals in Europe.

 

JUNG: There was a screening in 2011 when a HDCAM failed to display subtitles. We were quick to apologize to our viewers and reimburse tickets for the screening. It still gives me shivers when I think of that moment!

 

YOO: There are too many special moments during these last eight years. We were devastated when we couldn’t put together enough funds to start the festival for the very first edition. It was hard, but just as memorable. When we finally received help from KOFIC, when we first fully filled up a venue, when we first invited a director (SONG Il-gon), when we first received a positive response from a possible sponsor, or when I watched the theatre becoming fully prepped for the opening night screening at the 2013 festival – the firsts never seem to escape me.

One particular event that was most memorable though was during YOON Sung-hyun’s Bleak Night (2011) screening. I noticed director Jean-Pierre Dardenne exit after the screening.

 

CHANG: It was breathtaking to see a theatre with both floors full, and excited audiences with shining eyes, just waiting for the screening to start. Most of the viewers were Italian and it made me so proud that they were waiting for our films.

 

JEON: At the 7th edition, the closing night film Masquerade was attended by Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich, along with 20 or so Hollywood stars. Having them on the red carpet to watch the screening and recognizing the importance of Korean films was definitely a memorable moment for the festival.

 

 

JUNG: I’m very curious about LEE Byung-hun and JEON Do-yeon leading Memories of the Sword, to be released this year. It’ll be a big hit with the Australian audiences, perhaps even more than Masquerade!

 

JEON: I’m also curious about Memories of the Sword, and also The Fatal Encounter, Kundo: Age of the Rampant, and Roaring Currents as we look forward to programming a special section for period films at our 9th edition.

 

JUNG: It’s an effective medium that ties Australians and Koreans by creating a common space.

 

YOO: For our festival, each film is in and of itself, a film, and also a piece of art.

CHANG: Korean films give Koreans confidence and pride.

 

JEON: Korean films are our pride.

 

KOFIC supports Korean cultural events that involve the screening of Korean films. They must be global and feature competitive programming, while the event’s main goal should be to expose Korean culture and/or aid in developing the Korean film industry. Eligible events must be annual, should be unique in their region, and must be at least five days long.

 

By June KIM