New Korean Cinema

A vital addition to the body of work available to those teaching Asian cinema in the west. It is a clearly structured and well written series of approaches to Korean Cinema. -- Screening the Past Among the most popular cinemas in Asia and increasingly visible and influential in Europe and the US, recent films from South Korea did not arise out of nowhere. This volume, drawing on scholars from three continents, including many native Korean speakers and scholars, provides a wealth of material for understanding the socio-cultural context out of which these popular films arose and in which they are consumed. Yet its greatest contribution may very well be in analysing not just the 'why' of Korean cinema, but the "how" - how the Korean film industry remade itself in the early 1990s to become a veritable juggernaut at home and abroad, a major player in global film culture, arguably more important on the world stage today than either the Japanese or Hong Kong cinemas. To this end, the volume provides insightful glimpses into under-appreciated areas within global film studies, such as the significance of film financing and film festivals; the mobilisation of film genre (Horror, comedy, melodrama); and issues of gender and sexuality. Not just a must-read for scholars of Korean film and culture, or Asian cinema, but a major intervention into the study of global media production and consumption. -- David Desser, Unit for Cinema Studies, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana A vital addition to the body of work available to those teaching Asian cinema in the west. It is a clearly structured and well written series of approaches to Korean Cinema. Among the most popular cinemas in Asia and increasingly visible and influential in Europe and the US, recent films from South Korea did not arise out of nowhere. This volume, drawing on scholars from three continents, including many native Korean speakers and scholars, provides a wealth of material for understanding the socio-cultural context out of which these popular films arose and in which they are consumed. Yet its greatest contribution may very well be in analysing not just the 'why' of Korean cinema, but the "how" - how the Korean film industry remade itself in the early 1990s to become a veritable juggernaut at home and abroad, a major player in global film culture, arguably more important on the world stage today than either the Japanese or Hong Kong cinemas. To this end, the volume provides insightful glimpses into under-appreciated areas within global film studies, such as the significance of film financing and film festivals; the mobilisation of film genre (Horror, comedy, melodrama); and issues of gender and sexuality. Not just a must-read for scholars of Korean film and culture, or Asian cinema, but a major intervention into the study of global media production and consumption.