By Yun Suh-young
The culture ministry has reportedly denied independent movie theaters financial support for being critical of the Park Geun-hye administration.
According to CBS Nocut News, there was a “cinema blacklist,” and art film cinemas which screened the controversial film “The Truth Shall Not Sink with the Sewol” (2014) were excluded from government support.
It reported the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), an affiliate organization of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, decided on candidates for subsidies in March last year. The selections were different than expected.
Private theaters such as Indie Space, Arirang Cine Center and 55 Cinema which opened that year were excluded from the list and those operated by KOFIC such as Indie Plus, Indie Plus Busan Cinema Center and Cinematheque KOFA were selected.
This was considered peculiar because subsidies were meant for cash-short private theaters and Indie Space had received the highest score out of KOFIC’s evaluation.
The daily claimed there was evidence of intentional exclusion because the three theaters that failed to make the list had screened the controversial film which drew a negative reaction from the government.
An official from the culture ministry came to see independent filmmakers after the screening of “The Truth Shall Not Sink with the Sewol” and told them support would be cut from theaters that screened the film, it reported. “He said the situation wouldn’t change no matter how much we fight for it, so we must seek measures to save ourselves,” an industry insider told Nocut News.
However, the culture ministry denied the report.
An official told the online daily, “These kinds of government projects are evaluated fairly based on standard procedures and then announced. How can we tell them things based on predictions? It’s something that is unlikely to happen.”
“The Truth Shall Not Sink with the Sewol” is a documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster that claimed the lives of over 300 people in April 2014. The government was harshly criticized for failing to organize quick and effective rescue efforts.