UNSRC Korean Cultural Society

JoongAng Daily

	A scene from the film “Haeundae,” directed by Yoon Je-kyoon. The film was supported in part by a government fund for creative content. Provided by CJ Entertainment

Korea’s tsunami blockbuster “Haeundae” set last year’s biggest box-office record with a total of 11.5 million viewers. It is also one of the highest grossing films in Korean history. But it could not have made those accomplishments without the help of government funds, according to the film’s director Yoon Je-kyoon.

For those filmmakers, drama, game, animation and computer graphics producers who find it difficult to find investors, Korea’s Culture Ministry said last week it will commit 100 billion won ($87 million) by 2012 to support various projects in the cultural content sector.

To fund the projects, the government plans to create what it calls a “fund of funds.” Under the plan, the government will contribute to a specially-created fund, rather than investing directly in shares, bonds or other securities. The fund will then be allocated to support other projects.

As of this month, the Culture Ministry has invested a combined 170 billion won for movies, television dramas and games since the investment tool was launched in 2006. Of the total amount, 48.6 percent has been set aside for films.

Yoon, the Haeundae director, said earlier that the fund is like “a lifeline for content creators.”

The film received 7.4 billion won in government funding, and earned an estimated return of up to 40 percent.

Other recent Korean films such as “Take Off” and “My Girlfriend is an Agent,” both of which were also successful at the box office, were also produced with the help of the government fund and their returns stand at over 50 percent, respectively, according to ministry data.

Musicals including “Three Musketeers,” “Jekyll & Hyde,” and “Phantom of the Opera” were also beneficiaries of the fund.

“Due to the nature of the content industry, which has fewer chances at success, the pace of investment has not been brisk, even though the money is there,” Culture Minister Yu In-chon said in a press briefing.

The ministry also plans to provide loans of up to 3 billion won per project, with no requirement for collateral. But it has also devised a set of quality control measures: Content providers who have received warnings from the Korea Communications Standards Commission for negative content or who are believed to have “degraded the dignity of the nation with low quality content” will be disqualified from funding for a specific period of time. The ministry did not elaborate on its criteria for “degrading content.”

Despite the positive reception for the government’s funding initiative, there has been criticism that it is overly focused on film projects. To address these concerns, the ministry intends to allocate 40 billion won to television dramas and 15 billion won to computer graphics and 3-D projects, out of the 100 billion won it plans to set aside for cultural content.

Last year, the revenue earned by Korean content providers grew 4.2 percent from the previous year to 68 trillion won. The gaming industry’s revenue also jumped 25.6 percent year-on-year, largely due to game exports totaling $1.5 billion, according to the ministry.

By Seo Ji-eun [spring@joongang.co.kr]

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JoongAng Daily

Korean director Park Chan-ok’s “Paju” has been named as the opening film of the 2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam, which is set to open tomorrow. Provided by MK Pictures

Eight Korean films have been invited to the 2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam set to open in the Dutch city tomorrow, including Park Chan-ok’s “Paju,” earlier named as the festival opener.

According to the event’s Web site, “Moscow” by Whang Cheol-mean and “Mother” by Bong Joon-ho will be screened in its Spectrum section dedicated to established filmmakers worldwide. Moscow tells the story of two former school friends who reunite years later on opposite ends of the social ladder. Mother presents a poignant drama about a mother who goes to extremes to save her mentally ill son, accused of being a murderer.

In its Bright Future section on novice filmmakers, the festival will present “elbowroom” by Ham Kyoung-rock, “Cafe noir” by critic-turned-director Jung Sung-il, “Eighteen” by Jang Kun-jae, “Possessed” by Lee Yong-ju and “Running Turtle” by Lee Yeon-woo.

The festival earlier announced that “Paju” will open the event, with festival director Rutger Wolfson praising it as a “triumph of resilience and a powerful female voice from Asia, ambitious and intimate at the same time.”

The second feature by female director Park portrays modern Korean society through the eyes of a young woman, set in the industrial border town of Paju - a longtime military garrison and now a developing urban hub located close to the inter-Korean border.

*The festival takes place from Jan. 27 to Feb. 7.

Yonhap

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KOREA HERALD

Early in “Secret Reunion,” a clever tale of two marginalized men, middle-aged anti-spy agent Han-kyu (Song Kang-ho) ruefully complains about how the external world is “inconsistent” in driving him to the wall.

His job is to track down and arrest North Korean spies, but when one of the missions he leads fails miserably, his superiors, mindful of their own job security, rush to put all the blame on the working-level officer. Han-kyu’s half-comic and half-saddening comment about his sorry state not only showcases Song’s trademark acting skill but also highlights the film’s message.

Han-kyu’s opposite is Ji-won (Kang Dong-won), an extremely handsome and intelligent North Korean spy who carries out a mission through encrypted messages sent via e-mails.

On their first encounter, they get a brief glimpse of each other without knowing they end up in an embarrassing situation six years later. After all, the center of attention on that fateful day was elsewhere. A super-charged North Korean agent nicknamed “Shadow” leaves several South Korean agents and innocent civilians dead in the broad daylight in Seoul.

So far, a typical spy drama based on decades-old inter-Korean espionage. Fortunately for the audiences, director Jang Hoon, who scored a hit with the 2008 sleeper “Rough Cut,” shifts gears drastically when the clock advances by six years when the two main characters are set to meet again.

Han-kyu’s present life is not pretty. He lost his job as part of restructuring efforts at the anti-spy agency and got divorced. He occasionally talks to his daughter on the phone and sends money to his ex-wife.

Han-kyu’s current job is functionally the same as the old one: tracking down people. He runs a sort of private detective agency, and he charges Korean farmers for hunting down runaway Vietnamese or other foreign brides.

Ji-won’s life in the South is equally disappointing. The high-profile incident six years ago was chaotic in execution, resulting in confusion about who did what wrong. What is clear, at least for the North Korean authorities who control the spy operations against the South, is that Ji-won should take the blame, a sorry conclusion not dissimilar to what had happened to Han-kyu.

The two men, both ignored, sidelined and marginalized happen to live together for a while, each dreaming of a different outcome. The camera keeps throwing hints about how far removed the two men are from their dreams, while interspersing funny moments with some action sequences to spice up the otherwise melodramatic mood of the second half.

Jang might have been tempted to crank up the socio-political criticism to a higher level, but he wisely did not opt for that obvious track. Instead, he focuses on the basic human emotions flowing from people whose social status turns into that of outsiders overnight.

Song masterfully delivers what he is supposed to do for the tricky character. Han-kyu seems deeply world-weary but never loses his sense of self-deprecating humor. Even when he accidentally traps himself in his own apartment, his awkward facial expression appears genuine and earnest, turning that particular scene all the more hilarious.

Kang, who also stars in the current box-office film “Jeon Woo Chi,” manages to bring to life a North Korean agent whose empathy is extraordinary, but some may find his character a tad unrealistic due to his glamorous appearance that is not suitable for a super-secret agent.

“Secret Reunion” is scheduled to open nationwide on Feb. 4.

(insight@heraldm.com)

By Yang Sung-jin

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