연합뉴스
| yna@yna.co.kr 2022-04-18 10:12:22
SEOUL, Apr. 18 (Yonhap) -- "I wish people would think about the boundaries of Korean movies. Although it is a movie made by Korean staffs overseas with local actors, this is a Korean movie."
Ruslan Pak, the director who directed the movie releasing today, "Three," said in the press conference held recently.
"Three," directed by Ruslan Pak, the fourth generation of Koryo-saram, or the Soviet Koreans in territory of the former Soviet Union worked with Korean staffs to make the movie. Not only are the actors from Kazakhstan or Russia, but the story is also based on real events in Kazakhstan, the former Soviet Union.
Those who saw the film without knowing the director or the production staffs would think that it is a Kazakh film. However, "Three" is a Korean film that was jointly produced with Kazakhstan as it was made by a Korean production company.
Then what about the movie "Broker" that has been selected as a competitor for the film industry's biggest night at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival?
Although the film was directed by the highly vaunted Japanese director, Hirokazu koreeda, this film is classified as a Korean film. This is because it has been produced by a Korean film company and has been invested and distributed by CJ ENM, a South Korean entertainment and mass media company. Along with that, the actors in the movie, including Song Kang-ho, Kang Dong-won, Bae Doona, Lee Ji-eun (IU) and Lee Joo-young are Korean.
On the other hand, the movie released last year, "Vanishing," with the Korean actor, Yoo Yeon-seok being the lead role is a French movie as it was directed by the French director, Denis Dercourt along with French staffs in South Korea.
The nationality of the movie is generally classified by the nationality of the group or person who contributed to the investment and production process including the investment company and the production company. From the production company's point of view, the classification of where the film belongs is a necessary procedure in order to release the movie, get publication rights, import/export and to enter a film festival.
However, with the globalization and diversification of investment and production environments, barriers between countries in the film industry are gradually breaking down, fading the reason of having to classify a movie into a certain nationality.
In particular, from the audience's point of view, a movie with Korean actors and content that Koreans can relate to is often perceived as a "Korean movie."
A good example for this is the movie "Minari" which won the actress Yoon Yuh-jung an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Although "Minari," was made by Plan B Entertainment, an American production company founded by actor Brad Pitt, it was directed by the Korean-American director, Lee Isacc Chung and played by the Korean-American actor Steven Yeun along with South Korean actress Yoon Yuh-jung and Han Ye-ri. The language they main use in the film is also Korean, not English.
With the film depicting a Korean family trying to settle in the United States, it allows the audience to feel the Korean sentiment. Due to this, it has mobilized over 1 million viewers in South Korea which is unusual for a small American film.
The series "Pachinko," which was recently introduced by Apple TV+, is also an American content, but it has four generations of Korean immigrant families as the main characters, allowing the Korean viewers to create an emotional bond as high as that of Korean contents.
As such, there is a large gap between the classification of a nationality for a film in documents and psychologically. As more foreign contents are appearing about Korea, there are voices that says that the definition of Korean contents should be broadened.
Thus, it means that it is not "who" made it that is important, but "who's" story it tells that is more important.
"When publicizing for movies like "Vanishing" or "Pachinko," the nationality of the movie was not clearly stated," an official from the movie industry said. "Because we are in an era where the so-called K-contents work, movies are putting forward on these contents than who made it."
The official also added, "As much as the number of contents filmed overseas by Korean production crews are increasing, it shows that the status of the Korean production companies has also increased."
"For a long time in the United States, immigrant directors has been releasing films that tells the story of where they came from, and it is gradually becoming an era where it is meaningless to separate the film's nationalities," film critic Youn Sung-eun said. "It is necessary to redefine the nationalities in films."
(END)
[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]