Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Traumatic Korean cinema history on view
From left, curator Cho So-yeon, directors Kim Soo-yong and Lee Jang-ho and film critic Kim Jong-won attend a press conference for the exhibition on censorship in Korean cinema, held at the Korean Film Archive in western Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Korean Film Archive
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
The Korean Film Archive is holding a special exhibition on censorship in Korean cinema history at the center in Sangam-dong, Seoul, which will run until next March.
Since the birth of the industry in 1919, Korean films have faced substantial government scrutiny. Through Japanese rule (1910-1945) and the 1950-53 Korean War, which was followed by a military regime, films were subject to strict government censorship.
“Korean cinema would be half a century or so ahead from where it stands today if there had been no censorship,” director Kim Soo-yong, 90, a prolific filmmaker, said during a press conference for the exhibition at the Korean Film Archive in western Seoul, Oct. 29. “We would've had a Cannes-winning director 50 years earlier than Bong Joon-ho. Though unfortunate, it's the history that we have to accept.”
Until 1996, when film censorship was ruled unconstitutional, the entire process of filmmaking, including the scripts, was reviewed by a state-run agency and had to go through screening procedures. In the process, films were censored and some scenes taken out or edited in order to ensure they received the government approval that would allow the film to be released.
Scenes were cut or modified for many reasons, such as violating anti-communist laws, depicting resistance or implying criticism of society.
“What I think is unfair is that those people censored films based on their own biases and principles. They did not view films just as they are,” said the director, who had several of his films revised and cut through government censorship.
Filmmaker Lee Jang-ho, who has directed several award-winning films including “Good Windy Day” (1980), called the censorship “nonsense.”
“In one film, there was a song that had 'Sun-ja' in the lyrics and censors wanted me to delete that because it was the first name of the then first lady,” Lee said. “But I only muted the 'S' which still delivered the same sound. So people were laughing watching the scene.”
Director Lee Jang-ho and curator Cho So-yeon look at the timeline of censorship history at the exhibition that displays government documents and scenes cut from films. Courtesy of Korean Film Archive
He raised the qualification issue, saying those who were in charge of censorship did not have diverse backgrounds, which prevented them from understanding other people's work.
“Korean cinema has been beaten up since its birth through its 100-year history,” he said, comparing it to a self-made person born from extreme poverty. “Getting through such struggles has brought prosperity to Korean films.”
The exhibition is divided into five sections ― history overview, forbidden freedom of expression, lost films, rated R, and memories of censorship. It features copies of government documents and records from film screenings. Some of the digitally restored scenes cut from the 1950s to 1990s films will also be available to the public for the first time.
The exhibition will also feature testimonies from the directors who worked under such censorship and interviews with the censors.
“As we celebrate the centennial of Korean cinema history, I thought it would be meaningful to remind ourselves of our freedom of expression and creativity by revisiting the censorship history in Korean films and the effect it had on our films,” said Cho So-yeon, the exhibition's curator.
She said the exhibition pays respect to the filmmakers who have led Korean films to be recognized globally by enduring and resisting the tough times of censorship.