By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
In recent years, it has become more likely for Korean cineastes to be placed under the international spotlight at major film festivals worldwide.
Over the past decade, Korean cinema has proven to be commercially viable both on local and overseas markets, enjoying a renaissance and appealing to cinephiles on the festival circuit.
``South Korean Film Renaissance: Local Hit Makers, Global Provocateurs'' written by Choi Jin-hee in English probes how the Korean film industry turned an economic crisis into a cinematic renaissance through globalization based on historical reviews of the industry.
In the late 1990s, the Korean blockbuster established itself as a feasible production/marketing strategy on the domestic market, with the commercial success of such films as ``Swiri'' and ``Joint Security Area.'' Since then, box office records have been constantly exceeded by subsequent movies, including ``Silmido,'' ``Taegukgi,'' and ``The Host,'' which attracted audiences of more than 13 million.
Korean cinema has become one of the strongest commercial film industries in the region, outperforming Hollywood at the local box office. In past years, annual paid cinema admissions in the region have more than tripled from 42 million people in 1996 to 148 million in 2005 during which time Hollywood's market share was cut in half, dropping from 77 percent to 36 to 38 percent. By 2005, Korea had become the fifth largest theatrical market in the world, with $890 million in box-office receipts.
How was this possible? The book addresses the influence of Korean cinema on the world film scene as it adapted to regional and global demand by modernizing industry practices and elevating film production value.
With the country's rapid economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, the Korean government was under pressure to liberalize its import policies and financial markets for all industries, including film.
The anxiety over the large influx of foreign films, however, was slowly overcome with a generational shift within the industry. The relaxation of restrictions on production, in conjunction with the inauguration of a civilian government, provided an opportunity for independent production companies and a new generation of directors ― often identified as the ``386 generation'' whose members were born in the 1960s and attended college in the 1980s ― to propel an industrial boom unprecedented in the history of Korean cinema.
As French New Wave directors reshaped France's film culture and industry in the 1960s and Hong Kong New Wave directors with their sensibilities launched the golden era of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s, the ``386 generation' directors of similar political predilections contributed to the current industry boom by quickly adapting themselves to industry demands.
The concept of generation implies that a demographic group tends to manifest similar attitudes or stances toward its national and cultural history because of its shared experience.
The current renaissance is a result of the increasing globalization of the world film industry and of Korean's striving for cultural visibility and also an attempt to reach a wider regional global audience.