David E. James

Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema

Korean cinema was virtually unavailable to the West during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), and no film made before 1943 has been recovered even though Korea had an active film-making industry that produced at least 240 films. For a period of 40 years, after Korea was liberated from colonialism, a time where Western imports were scarce, Korean cinema became an innovative force reflecting a society whose social and cultural norms were becoming less conservative. This collection of ten essays written about Im Kwon-Taek, better known as the father of New Korean cinema, takes a critical look at the situations of filmmakers in South Korea.