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At this year’s 9th Asian Film Awards, which was held on March 25th in Macau, two Korean film professionals were recognized for their achievements. Actress BAE Doo-na of A Girl at My Door won the Best Actress Award while director IM Kwon-taek of Revivre received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Although there weren’t any trophy grabbers, there were Korean nominees in each category of the awards including two sets of performers who joined the festivities during the breaks to cheer on the strong Korean presence and heighten the celebration. But who selects and votes for the nominees and the winners? Out of the fourteen jury members, there were two Korean professionals who participated in the selection. KIM Ji-seok, executive programmer of the Busan International Film Festival and HUH Moon-yung, programmer of the Busan Cinema Center, were participants. KoBiz met with the two jury members to ask about the Asian Film Awards and the current climate of Korean cinema.

What is the current perspective from Hong Kong and from international film industries towards Korean cinema?
KIM: As many might have noticed, there weren’t many Korean films invited to the festival this year. China has become the main player at the festival and the market, and the awards are no exception. The interest towards Korean cinema also seems to have diminished, although Chinese mainstream films are interested in co-productions with Korea.
HUH: I think there hasn’t been much changes to how others look at Korean cinema. Our films are still considered provocative, emotional, and diverse, just as they have been since the early 2000s. However, after HONG Sangsoo, KIM Ki-duk, PARK Chan-wook and BONG Joon-ho, there haven’t been any new young directors that have come into light.

 

How are the nominees selected?
HUH: It’s different for every representing festival. Generally, the programmers of the respective film festivals select the nominees.
KIM: There’s a pre-selection committee where they select the nominees. Asia is a huge region, so it’s hard to select only a few to take a closer look at. Especially regions like India are harder to cover. Once pre-selection committee has finalized the list, the jury members are given online links to view the films. Unfortunately we don’t get a chance to sit together to discuss the finalists as we vote online. Jury members don’t know the results until the day of the event.

 

There were many Korean film professionals and works that were in the nominations list. Korea has been a strong player since year one of the AFAs, with The Host (2006) winning Best Film, followed by Secret Sunshine (2007) the year after. However, has the view towards Korean cinema changed since then?
HUH: It’s hard to say that the Asian Film Awards, which isn’t even ten years old, have a definitive identity. Even Cannes with over fifty years of experience does not have a homogeneous identity throughout the years. I think in the beginning it tried to nominate commercial and art films that were talked about in the nominations, but after a few years, I can see that they’re trying to discover the important films that are under the radar. If you take a look at the Best Film and Best Director nominees, they’re not necessarily films that were hot titles at major international film festivals. In this point of view, I think the awards are trying to have a vision of their own. Hill of Freedom which was invited to the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival was nominated for Best Film, which I think is a part of that effort.

 

The Hong Kong International Film Festival and Hong Kong FilMart are growing each year. What was the reception like for Korean films at the market?
KIM: I met with a few Korean companies during the market. It seems like sales are going well but it is likely that they initiated the conversation prior to FilMart. I heard that the market is getting bigger and they’re looking to expand the space, perhaps to the floor above. The reason for the rapid expansion is no doubt due to the growth of the Chinese film industry. Also since the market deals with television contents, this may have contributed to the growth.

Were there any films or professionals that weren’t nominated but you think deserved to be in the list?
HUH: It’s unfortunate that the interest towards documentaries is weak at the AFAs. WANG Bing’s 'Til Madness Do Us Part is an important piece from 2014 that wasn’t on the list.
KIM: I was hoping for ZHANG Lu’s Gyeongju in the nominations for Korea. And the a Taiwanese film Exit should have been on the list, especially for Best Actress.

There is an increase in partnerships between industries including co-productions, remakes and international theatrical releases, especially major projects with China. How will these attempts impact the Korean film industry?
HUH: I don’t think the number co-production projects increased all of a sudden. The trend to make co-production films started in the mid-2000s. At first, the projects aimed to make commercial films that would satisfy the tastes of both industries, but they were not successful at the box office. More recently, actors, directors, and technical staff are the main focus of co-productions and the partnerships over the border. This makes more sense. Partnerships between human resources are the basis of cultural and transnational exchanges.

Actress BAE Doo-na won the Best Actress Award. I’m curious to know what stood out about her role in A Girl at My Door that led to the trophy.
KIM: Most winners were what I had anticipated and BAE wasn’t a surprise either. What is unfortunate is that Korean directors and actors are often absent at the awards. That may have been why more Chinese films and professionals started to receive more trophies. However, there were quite a few Chinese winners that weren’t on site at the awards this year, which was unfortunate.