Ham Chung-beom et al. Korean Film Archive: 224 pp., 12,000 won
This book, released by the Korean Film Archive, presents research conducted by film experts on Korean movies during the socio-politically tumultuous period of the early 1960s.
In particular, the study looks into 1960 and 1961, the months preceding and following the climactic student uprising of April 19, 1960. The pro-labor movement overthrew the autocratic Syngman Rhee regime and marked the beginning of the Second Republic in modern Korean history ― and the Golden Age of Korean cinema.
There are many books that offer a film historiography, but not many that are placed within the context of such a specific period.
Movies, like other works of art, often mirror their times. The researchers look into writings about movies from the times and analyze their meanings, both overt and hidden.
At the time, non-commercial contemporary literary pieces were frequently adapted to the screen. This suggests that filmmakers wanted to pursue artistic ideals through the medium, thereby establishing its worth not as mere entertainment but as valuable works of art, and also offer the masses something real and relevant.
Period pieces set during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) were also extremely popular, and they featured incompetent monarchs that were not unlike then-President Rhee.
-Lee Hyo-won