The U.S. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Screening Korean Horror Films, While the UK BBC’s Reports on Korean Films

Now, the news of Korean films winning awards at the world film festival is one of the most familiar news. After Bong Joonho’s PARASITE won the Cannes Palme d'Or and 4 Oscars at the Academy Awards, Decision to Leave, directed by Park Chanwook who won Best Director at the 2022 Festival de Cannes, has been selected as a Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards, raising expectations for conquering the Cannes and Academy Awards concurrently. 

In the meantime, there is a phenomenon of focusing on reviewing Korean films in the United States, the United Kingdom, and North America. The U.S. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures held its first ‘Korean Film Festival’ by screening Korea's leading horror and thriller genre films released after the 2000s. Meanwhile, the BBC, the British public broadcasting company, and the British Film Institute (BFI) also promote interest in Korean films by conducting special reports on Korean cinema. The characteristic of this phenomenon is that it is more meaningful because it is deeply approaching the history of Korean cinema beyond the news centered on newly released films. 

The U.S. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Held ‘Monstrous: The Dark Side of New Korean Cinema’ for the First Time 

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures held a Korean film exhibition, Monstrous: The Dark Side of New Korean Cinema, from October 1 to 29. It screened Korea's representative horror and thriller films released after the 2000s. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures organized the screening under the auspices of the LA Office of the Korea Foundation (KF) for the Halloween season in October. This is the first time that a Korean film exhibition was held at the museum, which opened in September 2021. 

Monstrous: The Dark Side of New Korean Cinema screened 8 Korean horror films: Director Park Chanwook’s Oldboy, a 2003 film that won the Grand Prix at the Festival de Cannes, and THIRST, the winner of the Jury’s Prize at Cannes 2009, Kong Suchang's R-Point (2004), Bong Joonho's The Host (2006), the invitation of the director’s Fortnight at Cannes, and Jang Cheolsoo's Bedevilled (2010), the invitation of the Critics' Midnight at Cannes, Na Hongjin’s The Chaser (2008), the invitation of the Midnight Screening at Cannes, Jung Sik and Jung Bumshik’s Epitaph, which created a new sensation to the Korean horror movie world, and I Saw the Devil (2010), directed by Kim Jiwoon and starring Choi Minshik and Lee Byunghun. 

Especially, the museum chose Director Park Chanwook’s Oldboy and THIRST as the opening and the closing films of the event, highlighting Director Park Chanwook’s cinema world. The museum reviewed, "In the early 2000s, a new generation of directors in Korea expanded the boundaries of film production and explored new types of storytelling and artistic visions. The representative director who led this new generation is Park Chanwook. He created a new type of Korean horror film through Oldboy. Breaking away from the tradition of Korean horror films centered on family revenge, Director Park created a new kind of horror narrative," detailing the achievements made by Director Park Chanwook. In addition, on October 29, Director Park Chanwook was invited as a special guest and talked about THIRST for about 30 minutes. 

Founded in 2021 by the Academy Foundation, which organizes the Academy Awards, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest film-themed museum in the United States, where you can see everything about movies in LA, the mecca of the film industry, not only through exhibitions but also various linked programs. The Korean cinema screening exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is an event that clearly shows interest in Korean films in the U.S. Especially, as the museum is organized by the Academy Foundation, it shows the academy's great interest in Director Park Chanwook. 

The British Public Broadcasting Company, the BBC's ‘Korean Cinema Special’ & BFI’s Korean Film Special Articles

Meanwhile, in the UK, the public broadcaster BBC featured on Korean cinema. In addition, 120 introduction and review articles were reported at the London Korean Film Festival held in November, and Korean films received attention, including the December issue of 《Site and Sound》, a film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI).  

On November 13, the BBC aired a 23-minute feature on the news film ‘Talking Movies,’ dealing with expanding the influence of Korean films. Tom Brook, the BBC World News host, introduced the K-Wave Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the interview clips with Director Park Chanwook, Director Choi Donghoon, Director Cho Eunji, Director Lee Jungjae, Actor Ryu Seungryong, etc. were aired. Brook said, "Korea's storytelling is recognized for its artistic creativity. There is an opinion that it is as good as Hollywood in terms of originality.” 

In addition, the BBC introduced the late actor Kang Sooyeon as the first world star in Korean cinema history, dealing with the screenings of the "Special Exhibition of Kang Sooyeon" at the London Korean Film Festival and looking into the performances of Korean female directors. 

In addition, 《Site and Sound》, a film magazine published by BFI, published 20 pages of Korean film special articles, including the cover of the December 2022 issue. The cover, which reads ‘The Present of Korean Cinema’ in Korean, is quite impressive. The feature article taking a view of the present of Korean cinema consists of ’Hallyu Hell: Contemporary K-horror,’ ‘Breaking the Wave,’ and ‘30 Hidden Gems of New Korean Cinema.’ Especially, the ‘30 Hidden Gems of New Korean Cinema’ section said, “Korean cinema specialists, writers, and directors, including Lee Changdong, Park Chanwook, and Chung Seokyung, pick great films from the past three decades that failed to get the attention they deserved in the UK.” The magazine also focused on Director Park Chanwook of Decision to Leave. The circumstance in which major film institutions and media in Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom pay attention to Korean films can be seen as a very large contribution Director Park Chanwook of Decision to Leave made. Based on the mood, we can expect that the interest of Britain and North America in Director Park Chanwook and Decision to Leave will have a positive impact on the American Academy and the British Academy Awards in 2023.