ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to investigate what factors have impacted on producing film co-productions between South Korea and New Zealand (NZ), suggesting the most feasible way for bilateral co-productions, if these are to become more likely. Former research on film productions has tended to be carried out based on empirical research without clearly suggesting theoretical perspectives, even though many studies give the impression of being undertaken within a research framework using the political economy approach. Considering that there have been no successful Korean-Chinese and Korean-Japanese film co-production projects at the box office in Korea, there is a need to investigate the notion of cultural discount. Interestingly, NZ participants’ key motivations for NZ-Korea co-productions are relatively similar to actual motives for NZ-foreign co-productions, whereas Korean participants’ motivations for the arrangement with NZ differ from practical drivers with other nations. Cultural proximity is proven to continue being a critical factor between filmmakers as well as audiences for film co-productions, including Korea-NZ co-productions.
