Since 1999 South Korean films have drawn roughly 40 to 60 percent of the Korean domestic box office, matching or even surpassing Hollywood films in popularity. How did this Korean “film explosion” come about? This book examines the Korean film industry’s success story from the viewpoint of a group of unlikely social actors-Korean independent filmmakers. It investigates the unexpected alliances among independent filmmakers, the state, and the mainstream film industry practitioners under the postauthoritarian administrations of Kim Dae-jung (1998–2003) and Roh Moo-hyun (2003–2008), and argues th ... More

Since 1999 South Korean films have drawn roughly 40 to 60 percent of the Korean domestic box office, matching or even surpassing Hollywood films in popularity. How did this Korean “film explosion” come about? This book examines the Korean film industry’s success story from the viewpoint of a group of unlikely social actors-Korean independent filmmakers. It investigates the unexpected alliances among independent filmmakers, the state, and the mainstream film industry practitioners under the postauthoritarian administrations of Kim Dae-jung (1998–2003) and Roh Moo-hyun (2003–2008), and argues that these alliances were critical to the making of the Korean film sector as we know it. During this postauthoritarian/reform era, independent filmmakers with activist backgrounds who were part of the “democratic generation” or “3–8-6 generation” were able to mobilize the cultural repertoires and networks of their 1980s activism in turning themselves into important players in state cultural institutions. They also negotiated with the purveyors of capital and helped lead national protests against trade liberalization. Instead of simply labeling these alliances with the state, capitalists, and film industry practitioners as “selling out” or “co-optation,” the book explores how independent filmmakers transformed South Korea’s film institutions, policies, and narratives about film. This book is an ethnographic investigation of the political, social, and cultural contexts that created the Korean “film explosion.”