[Collection and Preservation] ① Expanding the Use of 'Korean Classic Films,' the Origin of K-Movies

Interview with Kim Hong-jun, Director of the Korean Film Archive
Increase in YouTube views of Korean classic films due to K-Culture influence
50th anniversary next year, academy promoting filmmaking for the public
Building a film movement archive, aiming for UNESCO Memory of the World registration

Records are evidence. Archivists (records management specialists) strive to connect disconnected eras, memories, and bonds for the moment when these pieces of evidence come together to form history. Over 104 years of Korean cinema, the global status of Korean films has steadily risen, yet public awareness and understanding of the importance of collecting video records remain insufficient. Kim Hong-jun, director of the Korean Film Archive, who has accumulated diverse experiences across the film industry as a film director, professor at Korea National University of Arts, and film festival programmer, has focused on bridging the gap between the industry and archival work, leading efforts to narrow this divide over the past year. Beyond tracing the trajectory of Korean cinema that leads K-culture, the Film Archive dreams of a second leap forward by expanding the use of its collections and producing new convergent content. The following is a Q&A with Director Kim.

Kim Hong-jun, director of the Korean Film Archive, is being interviewed on the 17th at the Korean Film Archive in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

－Many people are still unfamiliar with the Korean Film Archive. Specifically, what kind of institution is it and what projects does it undertake?

▲Citizens who visit the Archive generally know it as a place that collects and preserves materials related to Korean cinema. While that is the fundamental purpose of its establishment, overall, it can be described as an institution that collects, preserves, restores, and utilizes materials related to Korean films. When I was appointed director, I simultaneously took on the role of head of four institutions, which felt like a sudden rise to fame. (laughs) First, there is the Korean Film Museum, which showcases various collections held by the Archive through permanent and special exhibitions. On the second floor of the Archive is the Video Library, equipped with a reading room where visitors can view not only books related to films but also physical copies of film scripts, and watch movies via physical media such as Blu-ray and VHS. Additionally, the Archive operates three cinema theaters. To promote film cultural diversity, it runs year-round festival-level programs featuring recently released foreign art films, Korean independent films, and short films. Furthermore, the Archive also functions as a publishing house that compiles and publishes materials collected and researched by the curatorial research team, effectively fulfilling five roles in one institution.

－With the expanding influence of K-culture, there is said to be growing interest in Korean films, especially classic films.

▲The response to Korean classic films on our YouTube channel has been tremendous, already accumulating 300 million views. We have restored about 300 Korean classic films produced before the 1990s, for which copyright issues have been resolved, and provide them with English subtitles. Introducing an online film archive on YouTube was the world's first by the Korean Film Archive and is considered one of our most successful cases. This has contributed to the expansion of internet infrastructure and the spread of the Korean Wave, and can be seen as a case that has both helped and benefited from these developments. Looking at the YouTube audience, viewers come from the United States, Europe, Japan, and others, but notably, countries with strong Korean Wave influence such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia show high viewership ratios.

Director Kim Ki-young's film The Housemaid (1960). It has been praised for its exquisite portrayal of the desires and anxieties of a middle-class family using the staircase layout of a two-story Western-style house. It is currently available to watch for free on the Korean Film Archive's YouTube channel.
[Photo by Korean Film Archive]

－The overseas interest in Korean classic films seems to echo the past footsteps of Korean cinephiles who visited French and German cultural centers.

▲Recently, the Korean Film Archive’s YouTube channel has taken on the role that cultural centers once played. Korea has become a cultural advanced country, and with the Korean Wave sweeping the world, I have thought about why viewers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan visit our YouTube channel to watch Korean classic films and leave comments. As a member of the cultural center generation, I recall that the reason we visited the French and German cultural centers in the 1970s was because they provided spaces to watch films in their original versions without censorship. Today, those who visit our YouTube channel are expanding their cultural horizons through classic films from Korea, a cultural advanced country, just as we once admired French, German, and Hollywood films and satisfied our artistic film desires at cultural centers. After director Bong Joon-ho mentioned the film The Housemaid, views surged dramatically, but unfortunately, the numbers have not been sustained, which worries me. (laughs)

－What is the most important project you have been promoting since your appointment?

▲Building an archive of film movements. From the cultural center generation of the 1970s, through the 1980s people's cultural movements, the 1990s cinematheque movement, to the establishment of film festivals and the Korean Film Academy, and up to the 2006 anti-FTA screen quota protests. Materials related to 30 years of film movements have been collected and researched separately by field, and we are now working to bring them together. We place particular importance on the 1990s cinematheque movement, as those involved became the core in launching the Korean Film Council and founding the Busan International Film Festival. We are collecting related materials centered on these individuals. This is expected to become objective evidence showing how unprecedented changes in Korean film history worldwide were possible. We conducted a pilot project last year, and this year we are establishing a master plan with the goal of securing a budget next year to ultimately register this as a UNESCO Memory of the World heritage.

Key scenes from 'Archives Korea 1930-1940,' part of the Joseon Documentary Film Collection released last year by the Korean Film Archive. [Photo by Korean Film Archive]

－There is currently a significant backlog of materials at the Film Archive. How do you plan to resolve this issue?

▲First, through a comprehensive survey, we identified about 50,000 backlog items. In the past, when materials such as scripts, censorship documents, and stills came in besides film reels, we recorded and stored them. Currently, after collection, the catalog team reviews the contents and organizes which film production the materials belong to. For example, donated collections from cinematographer Jeong Il-seong were personally received, cross-checked, cataloged, and then preserved. Through such cataloging, we have recently organized about 30,000 long-term backlog items. Cataloging is proceeding on two tracks. We prioritize cataloging materials currently being collected, while simultaneously working on cataloging materials of significant film historical importance. The Joseon Documentary Film Collection released last year included 53 pre-1945 documentary films and 60 post-liberation films, totaling 113 titles, accompanied by research abstracts and VOD services, making it the largest collection of modern Korean historical records. Even if the footage is from the 1940s, when detailed information such as when, why, who filmed it, where it is held, and where it was discovered is attached, its usability changes. Additionally, censorship documents from 1954, when official national censorship began in Korea, until the 1990s when it ended, have been transferred to the Archive, cataloged, and made publicly available. Currently, scanned originals by director are provided on the Archive’s website. The usability of materials depends on cataloging, and Korean film researchers have always suffered from a lack of primary sources. It is true that the Archive’s insufficient cataloging of its collections has limited access for researchers. Now that this issue has been somewhat resolved, we are also working on establishing regulations to allow access to primary materials only to researchers with clear purposes.

－Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Film Archive’s establishment. What programs are you planning in relation to this milestone?

▲There is no special budget allocated for new projects just because it is the 50th anniversary. Therefore, we plan to emphasize the anniversary by adding its color to ongoing projects and strengthen external activities related to the Archive’s long-standing goals. Along with infrastructure expansion and storage facility enlargement, we plan to operate an Archivist Academy. We are developing a curriculum covering the Archive’s various tasks so that the general public can take basic film restoration courses and have opportunities to process and create secondary productions using our collections, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary. Last year, we held a contest producing video essays on four 1950s films whose copyrights had expired: director Han Hyeong-mo’s box office hits The Hand of Fate and The Free Woman, Korea’s first female director Park Nam-ok’s debut film The Widow, and director Shin Sang-ok’s Hellfire, featuring actress Choi Eun-hee as a femme fatale. This yielded meaningful results. Through the Academy, we want to systematize a process where not only experts but also the general public can create film essays.

Kim Hong-jun, director of the Korean Film Archive, is being interviewed on the 17th at the Korean Film Archive in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

－Having been a film director, film festival programmer, and film professor, how do you define yourself?

▲In a broad sense, I feel like a curator. Even when making my own films, I directed with a sense of curation rather than as an author. Film directors are truly selfish and cannot live without making films; they can only breathe if they are making movies. Directors like Hong Sang-soo, Lee Chang-dong, and Park Chan-wook fit that description, but I am not that kind of director. It might sound like an excuse from a failed director, but I was fine while working in film-related fields. Since I debuted as a director at Taeheung Film Company, I was able to directly correct errors in materials for the Taeheung Film Company retrospective. Using my experience as a film programmer, I understand what film festivals want, and I also participate in the Archive’s screening programs, running a 'Director’s Choice' every three months to satisfy my programming instincts. Sometimes I wonder, 'Was I born to become the director of the Archive?' I professionally entered Chungmuro in 1991 as part of the directing team for the film Gaebyeok. Over 30 years in the field, at school, at film festivals, and through publishing books, I am glad to be able to bring all that experience here now. I have always juggled two or three jobs, but this is the first time I am fully dedicated to one. I might be a tiring director for the staff, but I am applying my past experiences while learning new things.