It may not be as action-packed as "Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War" or as touching as "The King and the Clown". But for serious movie buffs, the 1936 melodrama "Sweet Dream (Mimong)" represents an important part of Korea's film history that was until now believed to have been lost.
The oldest surviving Korean movie, which was only known through historical records until it was found last year in a Chinese film archive, will be shown at the Korean Film Archive (KFA) for the first time from Thursday to Sunday, along with other historically valuable films that were discovered in recent years.
Titled "Sweet Dream", the film was made by director Yang Joo-nam in 1936 during Japanese colonial rule. Before the discovery of the film, the 1937 film "Simchong" had been the oldest surviving film although only parts of it exist.
"Sweet Dream" deals with the secret love affair of a married woman, which was sensational in the conservative Confucian society when it was first screened.
"In terms of entertainment aspects, the film wouldn't be so great now", said Cho Jun-hyung, researcher of the film and education department at the KFA. "But the acquisition is meaningful because of the film's historical value".
The film can be used as a documentary, which shows contemporary lives of Korean people, authentic traditions and culture during Japanese colonial rule, Cho added. "We are now making efforts to designate it a cultural heritage as well".
Along with the film, two more movies from the early 1940s were also found and will be screened.
They are "Spring of Korean Peninsula (Pandoui Pom)", a love story directed by Lee Byung-il in 1941, and "Straits of Chosun (Chosonhaehyop)", a story about a reunited family by Park Ki-chai in 1943.
Historically, "Fight for Justice (Uirijok Kuto)" in 1919 is regarded as the first and the oldest Korean film. It was not a full-length movie but part of a play shown between acts.
The first full-length Korean film is "The Vow Made Below the Moon (Wolhaui Maengse)" by Yoon Bak-nam in 1923. It has a propaganda theme to promote savings, which was made under the support of the Japanese colonial government.
The initiator of local commercial films is the 1926 silent movie "Arirang", which also led the first boom in the local film industry.
Since old films are easily damaged or oxidize as time passes, it is almost impossible to restore films made before 1930 even though they are found.
"The rule in the discovery of old films is, the earlier is the better", said Jeong Hye-yun, who worked last year as a member of the acquisition team at the KFA for the recollection of the three films. "As we were only able to start collecting and preserving old films in the 1970s, so many movies with historical value only exist in books and records".
Compared to other countries, the history of the local film archive is short as no archive existed until 1974, when a national film archive center, the former body of the KFA, was founded. Now, the KFA has managed to save most of the movies made since the 1960s.
The recent discovery of the three films was possible thanks to collaboration with the Chinese film archive as many of old local films can be preserved at film archives in other countries.
Thanks to the collaboration with other film archives, the KFA also found four Korean films in 2004 and 2005, which were made during the Japanese colonial period from Japan and China such as "Troop Train (Kunyong Yolcha)" (1938), "Fisherman's Fire (Ohwa)" (1939), "Homeless Angel (Chibobnun Chonsa)" (1941) and "A Volunteer (Chiwonbyong)" (1941) as well as the documentary films "Haebang News (Independence News)" (1945) and "Choson" (1938).
Tickets for each screening are 2,000 won each. There will be no English subtitles for the films. The Korean Film Archive is located in Seoul Arts Center, near exit 5 of Nambu Bus Terminal Station on subway line 3. For more information, call (02) 521-2101 or visit Open the link .
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