ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rise of blockbusters in Korea as a national response to Hollywood's dominance in Asian cinema. The success of Swiri/Shiri, directed by Je-gyu Kang, in 1999 was a tremendous cultural, economic, and industrial event. It traces the regional/inter-Asian trajectories from Korean, Japanese, and Chinese-language cinemas. Promoting the policies of globalization, Korea started broadcasting television series in China, Japan, and South East Asia, and generally encouraged the expansion of the country's culture industry abroad in an attempt to increase its "soft power" and strengthen Korean influence and reputation in the region. It is important to identify the three historic periods of the notion of Asia-that of the region before and after the Second World War, the Cold War, and globalization which are closely connected to and influence the changing notions of Asian cinema. One of the most well-known art cinema directors from Japan, Takeshi Kitano, has been wooing festival juries and art house audiences around the world.
