After Choi Sun-sil scandal, blacklisted movies coming into the light

Posted on : 2016-12-18 12:13 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
After struggling to get funding due to touchy subject matter, more filmmakers exploring S. Korea’s darker episodes
Director Kim Jin-hyuk’s documentary “Seven Years: Journalism without Journalists
Director Kim Jin-hyuk’s documentary “Seven Years: Journalism without Journalists

“I guess that the very fact that this movie was released means that my work is done,” said Park Jeong-woo, the day before his film “Pandora” was set to hit screens. The film had been a symbol of censorship and “external pressure.” Perhaps because this film had finally beaten the censors, progressive films that have been kept under wraps have started to come into the limelight around the time that “Pandora” began playing at theaters around the country on Dec. 7.

“Ordinary People,” a film that stars Son Hyun-joo and Jang Hyuk, also ran into financial trouble when the government-backed Korea Fund of Funds (KFoF) declined to support it, just as it had with “Pandora.” “At first, there were high hopes for the film because of its strong script and star power, but the KFoF’s refusal to invest basically left the film blacklisted. We found ourselves on the verge of shutting down production after all the firms investing in the film withdrew their funding. One major distributor told us that the plot was even more engaging than ‘The Attorney,’ but that it couldn’t be involved because of the film’s controversial aspects,” one person who was involved in producing “Ordinary People” recalled. (“The Attorney” is a 2013 hit movie about former President Roh Moo-hyun that faced government obstacles in its making.)

Even though production costs of more than 5 billion won (US$4.24 million), “Ordinary People” was completed without any funding from venture capital firms thanks to the support of its distributor, Opus Pictures, and individual investors. The film is scheduled to be released early next year.

“When we had a private screening a while back, the film was described as a tearjerker with aspects of a thriller. The film has been interpreted politically, but it will be a commercially successful film,” declared Nam Ji-woong, president of Trinity Entertainment, the company that produced the film.

Considering that the film is about a father who fights an uphill battle to protect his family, it’s hard to see why it would have to combat external pressure. The film was apparently branded as “dangerous” merely because it is set during the democracy protests in June 1987 and because it depicts the Agency for National Security Planning attempting to set someone up. During Park Geun-hye’s four years as president, films that are critical of society have failed to find investors, regardless of the cast, plot or director, with numbing frequency.

“Top Secret” (the latest film by Hong Ki-seon, who also directed 2009‘s “The Case of Itaewon Homicide”) was also produced with the help of individual investors and a local film committee after the KFoF declined to fund it. In this film about corruption inside the armed forces, Kim Sang-kyung plays a former lieutenant-colonel named Dae-ik, Kim Ok-bin plays a reporter at a TV station who is investigating the corruption scandal with Dae-ik, and Choi Gwi-hwa plays a villain who is involved in the corruption.

“Despite being rejected for funding not only by the KFoF but also by several other groups because we were dealing with corruption in the military, we managed to finish shooting on Dec. 9 and are planning to release the film early next year. Since the recent Choi Sun-sil scandal, a large number of investment firms have been looking favorably at projects that they would have rejected in the past. We hope this represents a change in attitude,” said Kwon Ji-won, the president of Little Big Pictures, the studio that is distributing the film. Next year, the studio is planning to start production on the film “Dae-yang,” which uses the Oh Dae-yang group suicide to explore the links between the government and religious groups.

” which tells the story of how the media has been attacked and suppressed from the administration of former president Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) until now.
” which tells the story of how the media has been attacked and suppressed from the administration of former president Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) until now.

Another film that is supposed to be released next year is “Taxi Driver,” which depicts the events of the Gwangju Massacre in May 1980. The film is based on the true story of a taxi driver who drove a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju, enabling the reporter to bring the news about the Gwangju democratization movement to global audiences. The taxi driver will be played by Song Kang-ho and the foreign correspondent by Thomas Kretschmann. Jang Hoon (director of “The Front Line”) started shooting the film in June, but he has not released any information about the movie aside from the cast because of fears about outside pressure.

While commercial films that had been held back are finally hitting the big screen thanks to recent political changes, independent films - which had stayed the course despite difficult circumstances - are gearing up for even sharper social criticism. “Memento Mori” (directed by Mario Lee), which will be released at the beginning of next year, is a documentary that jogs our memories about the National Intelligence Service’s interference in the 2012 presidential election campaign. The theater release of director Kim Jin-hyuk’s “Seven Years: Journalism without Journalists,” which tells the story of how the media has been attacked and suppressed from the administration of former president Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) until now, has been confirmed for Jan. 12. This documentary was shown at the Jeonju Film Festival, and it won the top Korean documentary prize and the audience prize at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.

In the first half of 2017, three films produced by Ddanzi Ilbo (“Intentions,” “Reservoir Game” and “The Plan”) will be released in that order. These documentaries investigate numerous allegations connected with the sinking of the Sewol ferry, unfair vote tabulation and slush funds in the Lee Myung-bak administration.

By Nam Eun-ju, staff reporter

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