Korea celebrates birth of film in the country By Shin Hae-in

SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- Despite various theories on how film as an art form was born in Korea, the majority of scholars here regard local drama Loyal Revenge (Euirijeok guto)??? as the first Korean domestic film.

Directed by Kim Do-san, the movie was screened at Danseongsa, one of the first
theaters in the country, on Oct. 27, 1919, the day South Korea later designated
as the country's "Movie Day" in 1961.
Celebrating the birth of motion pictures in the country 90 years later, hundreds
of film fans, directors, actors and actresses were to gather in central Seoul
Tuesday when South Korea's only state-funded film contest will also kick off.
The 46th Daejong Film Awards, one of the oldest and the most prestigious in
Korea, will be screening noticeable local movies produced this year. Winners in
28 categories including best film, best director and best actor will be awarded
on Nov. 6, the final day of the event.
Both South and North Korea, divided since 1948 when they formed separate
governments, have relatively robust film industries today, but only South Korean
films have earned wide international acclaim as North Korean films tend to
portray communist or revolutionary themes.
Na Woon-gyu's "Arirang (1926)" is regarded as the film that opened the era of
high-quality silent film in Korea, while Lee Myeong-woo's "Chunhyangjeon (1935)"
is on the record as the country's first sound film.
It wasn't until the late 1990s that the South Korean film industry picked up and
has since climbed only upward. Now, the country is one of the very few where
Hollywood productions do not hold a dominant share of the domestic market, with
the audience watching more domestic than imported films in theaters.
The 1999 film "Swiri," about a North Korean spy preparing a coup in Seoul, became
the first in Korean history to sell more than two million tickets in Seoul alone,
only to be outdone the very next year by "Joint Security Area," which was again
outnumbered by "Friend" a year later.
Records have been broken continuously since 2004. Five movies including Bong
Joon-ho's "The Host" and Lee Joon-ik's "King and the Clown" were watched by over
10 million people per film, which is more than a quarter of the South Korean
population.
???Oasis??? won the second prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2002, providing a
turning point for Korean avante garde films. Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy" entered
the record books when it took second place in the Cannes Film Festival, the
director again winning the third highest Cannes award with Thirst???this year.
In 2004, Kim Ki-duk won the award for best director at the Berlin Film Festival
for a film about a teenage prostitute, "Samaritan Girl." In addition, he won the
Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for his 2004 movie, "3-Iron."
"I am proud to be part of the Korean film industry, which truly has a history to
be proud of,???said actress Hong Soo-hyun, who will be hosting the Tuesday event,
in an earlier interview. I hope the event will play a role in encouraging all
people in the film industry to continue performing their best.???
hayney@yna.co.kr
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