ABSTRACT
Korean cinema has been exhibited at international film festivals since the late 1950s. Korean film ‘auteurs’ were mostly introduced in Europe through the major film festivals in the early 1960s and, after a pause, from the 1980s, reflecting the political and film-industrial dynamics specific to the Korean Peninsula and global Cold War politics. As Korean films were first screened at the Berlin International Film Festival around the establishment of the Berlin Wall in 1961, this chapter examines the purpose, history, and function of the Berlinale in comparison to other major film festivals such as the Cannes and Karlovy Vary film festivals.
Based on the analysis of selected ‘auteur’- and ‘art-house cinema’ from the 1950s (by Yi Pyŏngil, Kang Taejin, Shin Sang-ok) to 2000 (Korean New Wave with Im Kwon-Taek, Hong Sang-soo, and Kim Ki-duk), this chapter aims to explore what kind of films appealed to European film professionals, festival curators, and the general public during the 20th century. While exploring the term ‘festival film’, it also examines why and in what historical context Korean cinema has begun only in recent decades to gain recognition on the film festival circuit, which in turn shapes the global understanding of Korean cinema.
