hankyoreh

By Song Ho-kyun, staff reporter

Four weeks after its release, “Another Family” secured more screens on Mar. 1.

The Korean Film Council (KFC), chaired by Kim Ui-suk, reportedly played an active behind-the-scenes roles in getting a wider release for the film, which tells the story of Hwang Yu-mi, a Samsung semiconductor factory employee who died of leukemia.

The Hankyoreh found on Mar. 3 the KFC sent an official document to Lotte Cinema on Feb. 25 urging it to increase the number of screens for “Another Family.”

“The fact that [‘Another Family’] was shown on a conspicuously smaller number of screens than at other multiplexes gives reason to suspect that Lotte Cinema has behaved unfairly,” said the confidential document, which urged it to “take action, for example, by increasing the number of screens.”

The office of Woo Won-shik, chairman of the Democratic Party’s Committee for Improving the Standing of the Have-Nots (the so-called “Euljiro Committee”), has also been calling for Lotte Cinema to add more screens for “Another Family.”

The KFC’s Special Committee for a Fair Competition Environment reportedly made the decision after receiving a complaint of unfair practices by the theater from the “Another Family” Production Committee on Feb. 11. Three meetings were held with the accusers, the production company, and Lotte Cinema officials before the decision was made to send the notice.

Lotte Cinema triggered an outcry when the film was first released by allocating only 17 screens to it. As of March 1, it added 28 more, including five in Seoul, eleven in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, and three in Busan. Adding screens during a movie’s run is very uncommon in South Korea.

With this move, the number of screens for “Family” nationwide rises to roughly 120. The film is currently closing in on 500,000 ticket sales, with 479,869 admissions as of the afternoon of Mar. 3.

Lotte Cinema was also reported to the Fair Trade Commission by a number of civic groups, including the worker human rights watchdog Banollim, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, and MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society.

“My understanding is that the KFC’s notice, which came while a conclusion on the FTC complaint was still pending, played a decisive role,” said Im Ja-un, an attorney with Banollim.

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