Korean film history illustrated in free exhibition

Fans of South Korean cinema will have an opportunity to see images of the nation’s earliest films at a free exhibition that begins tomorrow in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul.
The 48 photos were taken from some of the most well-known Korean films produced between 1920 and 1960.
“This will be a good chance to look at the overall film history of Korea,” said Cho Do-hee, one of the organizers from ChungAng University’s Digital Contents Resource Center.
The archive center’s digital team collected footage of the films, digitally restored it and enlarged still images to photographs of 170x100 centimeters (67x39 inches) for the exhibition.
One of the images is from the 1926 silent film “Arirang.” The film was directed by the late Na Wun-gyu, who is acknowledged as a genius in the Northeast Asian film industry.
“Arirang” is about a college student who was arrested and tortured for being involved in the March 1 liberation movement during the Japanese occupation.
When the freedom fighter returns home, he finds the landowner harassing his family, so he kills him and gets arrested again. When the movie was shown in theaters, it ended with the Korean folk song “Arirang.”
The exhibition will also feature stills from “Although Hateful Again” (1968) by director Jeong So-yeong, “Goryeojang” (1963) by Kim Gi-yeong and “The Five Marines” (1961) directed by Kim Gi-deok, not the director of the same name who won a prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2004.
The images will be displayed on the sidewalk in front of the Sejong Center for Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun. It will be open 24 hours a day until its closing on Aug. 21.

by Lee Min-a