The theme of the Far East Film Festival’s retrospective program this year was “Saving the Past: 50/50: Celebrating 50 Years of Korean Film Preservation” and it was focused on a tumultuous yet pivotal decade for Korean cinema.
The 1950s were a time of great upheaval and these films – restored under the direction of the Korean Film Archive – were thoughtfully curated to capture the cinematic essence of that era for the international audience gathered for FEFF in the north of Italy.
In commemoration of this historic restoration effort, but also to have a more in-depth conversation about film preservation and curation in general, we had the opportunity to speak with Kim Hong-joon, the director of the Korean Film Archives.
It is important to know that from 2000 to 2005, Hong-Joon Kim served as the Festival Director of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival and Commissioner of the Korean Film Council. Among his published works are I, a Filmmaker: Kim Hong-Joon’s Film Notes and Two or Three Things You Want to Know About Movies. Kim is acclaimed as a director and screenwriter, contributing to films such as Jungle Story and La Vie En Rose. He has also been involved in the Korean Classical Cinema Special television series as a host and co-writer.
View of the Arts: Can you tell us about the Korean Film Archives (KOFA) and its role in preserving national cinema?
Kim Hong-joon: KOFA is a public institution funded by the Korean government, and as such, it operates within certain governmental guidelines. Our primary, though not exclusive, responsibility is the collection and preservation of national films, which are regarded as essential components of Korea’s cultural heritage. However, in recent times, KOFA has established itself also as a crucial film research institution with its own cinématheque where we carefully curate our programs for the audience with both restored films from our archive and foreign art-house films. Along with the research section and archive, we have a small but very important museum and library open to the interested public and researchers alike.
View of the Arts: This year marks the 50th anniversary of KOFA. Could you share with us some insights into the institution’s history and its significance?
Kim Hong-joon: Indeed, 2024 holds special significance for us as it commemorates the 50th anniversary of our establishment in 1974. To honor this milestone and reflect on our journey, we’ve organized a program aimed at celebrating our origins and contemplating future endeavors. In our opinion, these restored films reflect different social and political issues South Korea was facing at the time. For example, here at FEFF we screened Nagdong River (1952), shot during the Korean War, first film directed by a woman The Widow (1955) or the first Korean film to receive an overseas festival award – The Wedding Day (1956), among others.
View of the Arts: What motivated the creation of this program, and what are your aspirations for it?
Kim Hong-joon: The program serves as a tribute to our institution’s rich history and achievements. We aim to celebrate our accomplishments while also looking ahead to future challenges and opportunities. It’s an opportunity for us to engage with our audience and reaffirm our commitment to preserving and promoting Korean cinema. The primary objective of this program is to acquaint both our Korean and international audiences with the vibrant history of South Korean cinema while commemorating the 50th anniversary of KOFA. However, focusing specifically on films from the 1950s, they are exceedingly rare, with less than 20% of them surviving to this day. Before the establishment of KOFA, films were often deemed insignificant, and there was little regard for their preservation for future generations. Therefore, the seven films restored and showcased here at FEFF represent the pinnacle of preservation efforts, constituting the finest examples available to us.
View of the Arts: Can you share a bit about your personal journey leading up to becoming the director of KOFA?
Kim Hong-joon: Prior to assuming the role of director, I worked as a film director and had a keen interest in film archiving. I made several films, among others is Rosy Life (1994) which is shown also here at FEFF 2024, and nine episodes of history of Korean cinema – My Korean Cinema (2002/06). And from there, I also collaborated with KOFA on various projects, which provided me with valuable insights into its operations. Lastly, three years ago, I was honored to accept the position of director, allowing me to contribute further to the preservation and promotion of Korean cinema.
View of the Arts: In your opinion, what is actually film curatorship and programming in the context of a film archive?
Kim Hong-joon: Let’s say it like this, quite frankly – it is mission impossible. I don’t know how to say it in English, but in Korean, there is a proverb saying “trying to catch two rabbits at the same time.” So, we at KOFA, never forget that our first task is to preserve a part of a Korean culture and heritage, but also there is so much more archives can, and must do, in my opinion. However, not every archive is the same, they should all try to serve their public the best way they can, so I do not think there is a perfect definition for it. We try to serve the Korean audiences the best way we can through rich educational programs, public libraries, and cinema houses with both Korean restored titles and foreign films that cannot be seen in big commercial cinemas. But every archive, as a national institution, should try to make film, as a medium, more culturally meaningful, not just entertaining, and that is what we at KOFA are aiming for. So, both film curatorship and programming should keep their entire audience in mind, rather than merely serving as a gathering place for small groups of cinephiles. The National Film Archive is a significant public institution and should serve as an educational venue that celebrates the medium it represents – in our case, that medium is film.
View of the Arts: What is KOFA’s relationship to the past, present, and future?
Kim Hong-joon: At the time of its foundation, KOFA’s budget was small, making it more of an agency than a large national institution. There were few people working there, and they lacked significant collecting mechanisms, barely acquiring any films. However, the tide shifted in the 1990s as interest in Korean cinema began to steadily grow. It was then that we started to see more thorough archiving methods being implemented and classics of Korean cinema being properly preserved, with their importance communicated to the public through various programs and publications.
Now, with our operations relatively stable and a wide array of programs being offered, this coincides with the so-called “renaissance” of Korean cinema in the 21st century. As a result, we receive significant responsiveness to our programs, even from renowned film directors who both collaborate with us and are among our frequent audience. For instance, during screenings of restored films, it’s not uncommon to see Park Chan-wook and others in attendance. However, it’s crucial to emphasize that archives require public support, as we exist for the people. Therefore, at KOFA, and during my tenure as director, we strive to promote and advertise ourselves and our work diligently. Despite our efforts, many people still fail to recognize our work and even our existence, despite our role in preserving and caring for a part of our collective history.
View of the Arts: Was there any event you remember in particular during the restoration process? Can you recall any highlights from preparing this specific program?
Kim Hong-joon: For instance, one of the films that underwent restoration and screening was Nakdong River (1952), and its tale of ‘resurrection’ is truly remarkable, to say the least. This film, the sole production shot during the Korean War, was lost in the archive due to misidentification rather than censorship. In essence, the “lost film” was never truly lost, but rather “merely” mislabeled. This serves as a compelling example of the importance of archival work and the significant consequences of misclassification. To think that such a crucial work was presumed lost for so long, only to discover it had been right under our noses entire time…
View of the Arts: The mere act of preserving or not preserving something is an active, ideological choice. What is the process of selection of what is “valuable” to preserve, and could you describe us a process of film curatorship in your institution?
Kim Hong-joon: There are many different criteria for that of course, but I try to encourage curators, which I think it is very important, to not hide their own personal interests and preferences. You as a curator and a programmer have to put together a program and not perhaps only educate, but to invite the audience to watch the film together in a sense, to build a film community. Every curatorial choice that comes from personal enjoyment and pleasure is usually more honest and it communicates better with the audience.
View of the Arts: KOFA, as an institution, is not only focused on film archiving and preservation but also on, for instance, education and film publishing. Your institutional journal, in its third edition, concentrates on a critical function of film archive – circulation. What do you mean by “circulation” in the context of film archiving?
Kim Hong-joon: So, our publication “Archive Prism”, issued quarterly by KOFA, subtitled “Film Archives Today,” is dedicated to exploring the contemporary challenges faced by film archives across the globe. The inaugural issue, released in Winter 2021, focused on the role of film archives and their adaptive strategies in an evolving landscape characterized by digital transformation and shifts in film consumption patterns following the pandemic. The subsequent edition focused on “restoration”—the process of rejuvenating our shared cultural heritage—to highlight the tactics and philosophies adopted by film archives worldwide to preserve and revitalize film culture.
View of the Arts: At KOFA, do you collaborate with other countries’ film archives, more specifically with the ones you share a common history with? What is your approach towards collaboration with different art institutions?
Kim Hong-joon: Yes, there is a collaboration, especially when we are searching for something very particular and we have some vague idea, from historical records, who might have it in their possession, without even knowing most often. As KOFA, we are a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), so we make our search public within our network, but in this case, it was more of an investigative work within our own institution. As time goes on, there is less and less chance something new will be found, but we always have to try, because you never know what is still hidden.
View of the Arts: What is, in your opinion, the mission, or should be the goal, of KOFA?
Kim Hong-joon: First of all, I feel like KOFA’s mission is well translated into this program we showed here at FEFF. We wanted to share our cultural heritage with an international audience who will perhaps like some films so much that they will keep exploring Korean cinema and our institution consequently. But also, and perhaps above all, for us, it is important to show these films on a big screen in a theatre, in their original format, and to share that magnificent experience with so many different people around the world.
Written and interviewed by Sara Simic
Featured image courtesy of KOFA & BIFF
***Sara Simic attended the 26th Far East Film Festival as part of its FEFF Campus initiative for aspiring critics, writers and film industry creatives.
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