Seoul Art Cinema offers experimental film screenings

A poster for the "Framework" film series at Seoul Art Cinema / Courtesy of Seoul Art Cinema

Korea is globally renowned for its cinematic auteurs, including giants like Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook and Hong Sang-soo. But where are the arthouse cinemas screening indie and experimental films that will inspire, motivate and connect the next generation of filmmakers?

"The country has no serious history in this domain, and even to this day, the counterculture is tiny," said Pip Chodorov, an American who works as a programmer for Cinematheque Seoul, or Seoul Art Cinema.

"The younger generation is aware that they are missing out on a huge part of history and as soon as they become aware that works were being made outside of the mainstream, away from the museums and theaters, and there is a value in being outside the system, they tap into a new understanding of image and medium and start to seek out these cinematic experiences that are hiding below the surface. It is a very special moment of discovery."

Founded in 2002, Seoul Art Cinema offers about 500 screenings every year at Kyunghyang Art Hill in central Seoul's historic Jeong-dong neighborhood. In partnership with foreign embassies and other cultural institutions, the cinema's programming ranges from independent features and documentaries to retrospectives of classic directors or movements such as the French New Wave. Chodorov has been urging the space to screen more experimental films, establishing a regular screening program in 2022, which became known as "Framework."

"We want to bring experimental films to a wider audience, especially in Korea, where there is not much chance to see these films," Chodorov said.

Each month after the screening, Chodorov gives a cinetalk.

"Many people tell me that even if they don’t like or understand the films, the talk always sheds light and makes them interesting," he said.

Attendance at Framework screenings has surpassed expectations, according to Chodorov.

"Even the managers of Seoul Art Cinema are surprised how full these screenings have become every month," he said, adding that the popularity has encouraged them to explore more and more progressive and radical programming, showing films that have no prior exposure in Korea.

"Avant-garde programming lends a cache and an importance to the venue who risks pushing the boundary of what film can be," he said.

Chodorov's time in Korea stretches back 20 years, and he was invited to different film festivals here in 2005, 2009 and 2013, for one week each time.

"It always felt too short to visit for only a week," he said.

On that third visit, the festival director, who was a film professor, invited Chodorov to apply for a teaching position at his school, Dongguk University. Since then, Chodorov has been dividing his time between Seoul, where he teaches film classes for the fall and spring semesters, and Paris, where he runs a film distribution company and a gallery for filmmakers. He also has been programming an experimental section for the Busan International Short Film Festival as well as other occasional film programs, such as at KOTE in Seoul's Insa-dong neighborhood.

"Since I know how many people attend these kinds of screenings in mid-size American and European cities, I continuously encourage theater managers to show more experimental films," he said.

"There has been no hostility so far, even when I have shown films that were censured in the past. I have found Koreans to be eager for edgy programming. For those that are already interested in the niche of experimental cinema, we offer the opportunity to see works they could only read about. Others are simply curious about film form, film history and other cultures."

Seoul Art Cinema is operated by Korean Association of Cinematheques (KACT), a nonprofit organization with eight archive and exhibition spaces nationwide.

These include arthouse cinemas in Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Jeju Island, as well as Gangneung, Gangwon Province; Jeonju, North Jeolla Province; and Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. It also works with Queer Archive at Seoul Pride Film Festival and i-GON, the Alternative Visual Culture Factory and cinematheque team at Jinjin Pictures.

"Any decent city deserves to have a venue for these kinds of films. This is the general mission of a cinematheque," Chodorov said.

"I have had the opportunity to visit arthouse cinemas in Daejeon, Jeonju, Gwangju and Busan and I find the audiences to be smaller than in Seoul yet very serious and attentive. I often get very intelligent questions from the audience."

Visit cinematheque.seoul.kr for more information about the cinema and its upcoming screenings.