Lectures on local films for foreigners

By Noh Hyun-gi

The Korea Foundation will hold a series of six lectures on Korean films starting Monday.

“Open Lectures on Korean Culture for Foreigners: Treasures of Korean Cinema” will introduce local movies produced between 1958 and 2001 at the Culture Center of the foundation at Mirae Asset CENTER1 Building West Tower, Suha-dong, Seoul. Offered in English, this is an opportunity for foreigners to get an overview of the local scene.

Earl Jackson, a former visiting professor at the School of Film, TV & Multimedia of Korea National University of Arts, will teach the two-hour lectures. Jackson will give brief introductions to the films and watch them with the participants.

“The power of the Korean film industry to portray diverse lives with a fraction of the budget for Hollywood blockbusters like Titanic stems from the creativity that was impacted by the Japanese occupation and the Korean War,” he said. Jackson received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in comparative literature from Cornell University and Princeton University respectively.

The series will kick off with Yu Hyun-mok’s “Obaltan” (1961). Based on a novella of the same name by Yi Beom-seon, it captures the struggles of a Northern Korean refugee family living in Seoul in the late 1950s. It was banned shortly after its release for its grim portrayal of post-war Korea, but subsequently praised for its bold camera techniques and its own form of realism.

On April 9, the class will view “Flower in Hell” (1958) by Shing Sang-ok that follows a prostitute who works around an U.S. army bases in the 1950s. The list of films includes Hanyo (April 23) Mist (May 7) and Holiday (May 21) and One Fine Spring Day (June 4)

This is the second lecture series on Korean film at the Korea Foundation; In September 2011, the institute introduced productions from the 1950s and ‘60s.