*The following is an excerpt of the article by Kim Young woo, a film curator and a programmer for the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival. He was the programmer of Asian cinema at the Busan International Film Festival between 2014 and 2019. Kim also helmed the ASEAN Cinema Week held on the sidelines of the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit. Please click here for the full article.
Recent years have seen increased attention on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Korea. This has led to a boom in Southeast Asia?related events, from academic conferences and research to cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Such developments can be understood as being part the New Southern Policy, which aims to expand the trade-oriented relationship of ASEAN and Korea to one that encompasses exchanges in technology, culture, arts and among the peoples. However, as much as these efforts to understand the culture and history of the ASEAN region are significant, it is equally important to realize that we are just at the beginning of establishing a full-fledged cultural partnership and a thriving exchange among our peoples. And to reach that level of social-cultural interactions that will match the current breadth and depth of trade and economic exchanges will require a long-term and policy-driven vision
A careful and considerate approach is needed to ensure exchanges of people and cultural products in a more sustainable way. As Korean cultural content has been popular in Southeast Asia, it is particularly important for Korea to seek collaborations with ASEAN countries, not simply as consumers of Korean cultural products, but as equal partners to share mutual growth in the arts and culture industries.
Cooperation can only bear fruit with mutual understanding. The first step is to understand the dynamic growth of the film industry in ASEAN, as well as to know the differences and charms of ASEAN films, which may seem familiar, but are clearly distinctive for each of the countries in the region. This article aims to introduce ASEAN films and its film industry not as a general digest but as a snapshot of ASEAN movies through selective keywords.
Where can we watch Southeast Asian movies?
Thailand’s Bad Genius was a 2017 Asian blockbuster. The movie, often referred to as a teenage heist thriller that dealt with the familiar and yet provocative topic of cheating in exams, was a testament to the strength of Thai films. Yet Korea was the only Asian market in which it recorded subpar box-office results, demonstrating Korean moviegoers’ tastes toward Asian cinema. The Korean market, dominated by domestic and Hollywood films, barely manages to maintain a semblance of diversity, marked by showings of European arthouse cinema and Japanese anime and teen films supported by loyal fans.
This distortion has only intensified in the recent years. This article does not aim to debate whether the dwindling diversity at Korean theaters is due to the changing tastes of domestic audiences or the inevitable choices made by multiplex operators. Nevertheless, the fact that there is a lack of choice vis-a-vis the nationality of films screened at Korean cinemas is for certain.
This distortion has only intensified in the recent years. This article does not aim to debate whether the dwindling diversity at Korean theaters is due to the changing tastes of domestic audiences or the inevitable choices made by multiplex operators. Nevertheless, the fact that there is a lack of choice vis-a-vis the nationality of films screened at Korean cinemas is for certain.
On the other hand, the number of Korean movies exported in 2019 was 574, double the 276 imported in 2010.
Asia was its biggest market, with Taiwan and Japan as the largest importers. Among the top 10 were Singapore (4th), Indonesia (9th), and Vietnam (10th). The Philippines was among the top 10 in 2018, replaced by Indonesia in 2019.