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| A media display of women-centric films at the "21st Century Korean Films: The Age of Well-made Cinema" exhibition at the Korean Film Museum, Seoul / Courtesy of Korean Film Archive |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
The Korean Film Archive (KOFA) is holding a special exhibition, "21st Century Korean Films: The Age of Well-made Cinema," at the Korean Film Museum.
The exhibit features notable film trends that shaped the past two decades through video, media displays and an art wall displaying film posters, stills and pamphlets.
Korean cinema has enjoyed an unprecedented renaissance over the last 20 years, achieving quantitative and aesthetic growth. The global status of Korean films has increased dramatically thanks to "Parasite," which became the first non-English-language movie to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars.
The so-called "well-made" films that carry both artistic and commercial appeal attracted public attention, and independent films with a strong social conscience have emerged in recent years.
However, experimental and adventurous takes on films in the early 2000s faded along with the industry's frantic obsession with box office numbers and the oligopoly of large film studios. To make matters worse, COVID-19 struck and now the future of Korean movie theaters looks bleak.
"Through this exhibition, we aim to examine the transformation of the Korean film industry ― what led to the film renaissance in the early 2000s, the current boom and the road to recovery following the pandemic," a KOFA official said.
Nineteen South Korean films that attracted over 10 million moviegoers, including "Silmido" (2003), "The Host" (2006) and "Train to Busan" (2016) will be introduced.
The exhibition zooms in on 2003, a memorable year that kick-started the "New Korean Cinema" era. There was a healthy, dynamic mixture of independent and commercial films, and many remarkable directors like Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, Kim Jee-woon, Im Sang-soo and Lee Joon-ik came to prominence in the early 2000s.
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| A poster for the exhibition "21st Century Korean Films: The Age of Well-made Cinema" / Courtesy of Korean Film Archive |
It also includes sections on different movie genres and release patterns of films in the last two decades. Driven by the box office hit "Friend" (2001), classic gangster films were a popular genre in the early 2000s. From the mid-2000s to late 2010s, the most popular genres have been crime, action and thrillers.
The event will also introduce women-centric, independent and documentary films as well as film aesthetics represented by four big name Korean filmmakers ― Park, Bong, Hong Sang-soo and Lee Chang-dong.
The exhibition will run until August. Admission is free, but visitors must make reservations online in advance.
