Art Films, Theaters Looking for Right Marketing Strategy

By Joon Soh
Staff Reporter

The big news in local cinema has, of course, been the commercial strength of domestic blockbusters in the first half of this year. However, the massive success of films like "Taegukgi" and "Silmido" has overshadowed the financial problems faced in recent years by smaller films, both from here and abroad.

Whether it be award-winning domestic independent films or one of the many quality non-Hollywood films to make its way to the nation, movies with limited marketing budgets have had an especially difficult time attracting audiences or even finding theaters to show them.

"The reality of the situation is that smaller art films lack the financial resources to market themselves properly to compete", said David Cho, director of the distribution company Sponge. "And with royalty costs and the system of borrowing in order to import films, once a company begins to collect debt it's hard to get out from under it".

In order to overcome budget limitations, Sponge, which has brought such films as "Dogville" and "Bowling for Columbine" to local theaters, will try to change their way of doing business. The distribution company announced last week the creation of Cine Hue, a joint venture with the investment firm KTB Network. In an attempt to bring down promotional costs of individual films, Cine Hue will try for a "block marketing" strategy, in which its lineup of six art films will be promoted together.

Also, instead of trying to maximize the number of screens on opening day _ the strategy of bigger mainstream films, which can open on over 300 screens nationwide _ Cine Hue will release their films on a limited number of selected theaters and then gradually increase the number if the movie proves to be popular, thereby lessening the economic risk for theater owners.

With the right strategy, Kim Song-ho, a director for KTB, believes art films can have just as much success as any mainstream work. "If we can get good films and can properly deliver and market them, then I believe that they can be profitable", he said.

Cine Hue will begin its lineup of six films with Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education", which opened this year's Cannes Film Festival, to be released on 12 screens on Sept. 17. Other films to come include "Blood and Bones", directed by Korean-Japanese director Yoichi Sai (Korean name: Choi Yang-il) and starring Takeshi Kitano; "Eros", a compilation of short films by Wang Kar Wei, Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni, and "Vanity Fair", directed by Mira Nair and starring Reese Witherspoon.

Another group that uses a strategy similar to that of Cine Hue is Artplus Cinema Network, a cooperative of eight art film theaters formed in September 2003. By working together, the theaters _ located in Seoul, Pusan, Cheju and other cities _ began giving independent films normally destined to single-theater screenings an opportunity for a larger (but still limited) release.

In addition, these theaters were able to cut the cost of promotion and marketing, which they would have previously had to take on individually, as well as have an avenue to share information through the group's Web site (www.artpluscn.or.kr).

The strategy proved to be successful for the group's first film, "Songhwan (Repatriation)". When released in March, the documentary, about former North Korean spies living in the South, set an attendance record for a documentary, which was later broken by "Fahrenheit 9/11".

Artplus' latest offering is a plethora of independent cinema. For 40 days starting this Friday, 13 feature films that have only been previously screened at festivals will make their way to the eight art film theaters. They include "Kanunghan Pyonhwadul (Possible Changes)", which was the opening film at the Jeonju International Film Festival and "Sunday Seoul", which was invited to screen at Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival.