2 | Thursday, May 14, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO

to promote the country’s promising con­ tent industry, according to Yonhap News Agency. Experts urge With a larger presence in the global market, South Korean films, through interaction with the country’s drama, film industry Asian movies target beauty, pop music and food markets, will be a key element in the nation’s cultural strategy, Yu said. cooperation In particular, Yu said that while many South Korean films take a deep look at social issues, they are not that hard for By YANG HAN in Hong Kong overseas markets foreign viewers to understand, and thus become widely accepted. Productions Cooperation among key players can lead the such as the action horror movie Train to Asian movie industry, which already boasts Busan have provided international audi­ impressive production and viewership figures, to ences with a new taste of the country’s greater heights, according to experts. movies. Dal Yong Jin, distinguished SFU professor and Cai Gongming, president of the Beijing graduate chair at the School of Communication at film company Road Pictures, said Para­ Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, site’s success in the global film industry, Canada, said, “Cross­regional cooperation in Asia which has been largely dominated by the is crucial for the growth of the continent’s film West, will give confidence to the industry industry. in China and the rest of Asia. “When (filmmakers) work together, they can The movie’s achievements at the Oscars reduce production costs and make a film in two or showed that “international audiences can three different languages simultaneously.” actually accept things not considered as Noting that Asia mainstream in Western culture”, Cai said. has become a leader In China, the majority of domestic in the international films tend to focus more on the home film market in terms Through co­ market, due to its size, Cai said. He added of production and that unlike the way in which South Korea consumption, Jin production, pushes its commercial movies, Chinese said this does not new funds, new filmmakers can explore international mean that the quali­ Shoplifters is the highest­grossing live­action Japanese film to hit the Chinese mainland. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY opportunities through literary films, ty of its films can be markets and which have always been popular with compared with those new stories can overseas audiences. made in Hollywood. South Korea rides on Cai also sees opportunities for collabo­ Fu Yalong, deputy be found” ration between the film industry in both general manager of Dal Yong Jin, SFU pro­ the success of Parasite countries. “China and South Korea have the Solutions fessor and graduate at this year’s Oscars cooperated widely in the movie industry, Department at mar­ chair at the School of including post­production or through ket observer EnData Communication at South Korean celebrities featuring in Chi­ in Beijing, said coop­ Simon Fraser Universi­ By YANG HAN in Hong Kong nese films,” he said. eration among the ty in Canada [email protected] Yu, from SICS, said deeper cooperation film industry in Asia and communication between the Chinese will play an important role in improving domestic outh Korean films are making their and South Korean film industries should film production and market size in different coun­ mark on world cinema following be promoted further to jointly explore tries, in addition to promoting regional cultural the landmark success of the Oscar­ other markets. communication. winning movie Parasite. With the success of Parasite increasing The development of such cooperation is still in SShattering records, the black comedy­ international demand for Asian films, Yu the early stages, and mainly involves distribu­ thriller has catapulted the nation’s film said this will provide opportunities for the tion, including taking domestically­produced industry to global recognition. region’s movie industries to use their mutu­ films overseas and introducing high­quality mov­ The movie won four Oscars at this year’s al strengths to achieve better results. ies from another country to local audiences, Fu Academy Awards, including Best Interna­ However, Magnan­Park, from the Uni­ said. tional Feature Film and Best Picture. It was versity of Hong Kong, sees challenges for “As China is now the world’s second­largest film the first non­English­language film to win South Korean films. He said there will be market, it has become an increasingly important the latter category in the awards’ 92­year a natural rush to replicate the success of regional market for films made in other coun­ history. director Bong Joon­ho’s quadruple sweep tries,” Fu said, adding that movies from nations As of mid­March, before the novel coro­ at the Oscars with Parasite, especially such as Japan and India have done well at the box navirus pandemic took hold around the through “whitewashing” — the intention­ office in China. world, the movie had topped $254 million al replacement of non­white characters For example, the award­winning Shoplifters in global ticket sales, with nearly 80 per­ with white actors. achieved record­high box office revenue of about 90 cent of the takings coming from overseas “For South Korean cinema to expand million yuan ($12.7 million) within two weeks of its markets, according to Box Office Mojo, a its global reach, especially across English­ release in China, making it the highest grossing live­ film revenue tracker based in the United speaking nations, it needs to gain main­ action Japanese movie shown in the country. States. stream distribution and exhibition Jin said one of the most significant forms of Aaron Han Joon Magnan­Park, assistant opportunities in markets that are reluc­ regional collaboration is through movies co­pro­ professor in the Department of Compara­ tant to devote time and energy to foreign duced in Asian countries. tive Literature at the University of Hong films with subtitles,” Magnan­Park said. “Through co­production, new funds, new mar­ Kong, said South Korean films can no He added that streaming platforms kets and new stories can be found,” Jin said. longer be labeled “ethnocentric cinema”. such as Netflix can offer an alternative In December, the Singaporean government Neither can they be described as being situ­ route for South Korean films to be distrib­ launched a $14.7 million initiative to find partners ated on the fringes of world cinema. uted and shown globally. to jointly fund television content and film projects “It (the South Korean film industry) now Cai, whose company imported the Jap­ in Southeast Asia, according to The Straits Times. defines world cinema,” he said, adding that anese film Shoplifters to China, said it will Raymond Phathanavirangoon, executive the globalization of Korean culture has Top: Parasite garnered four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards. consider buying more South Korean mov­ director of the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab, or arrived and “it looks as if the momentum Above: A scene from the action horror movie Train to Busan. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO ies, if market conditions allow. SEAFIC, said a huge gap in Southeast Asia needs will continue to expand”. CHINA DAILY Shoplifters, which in 2018 won the Pal­ to be bridged in terms of cinematic knowledge, The history of film in what is now South me d’Or, the top honor at the Cannes Film co­production and best moviemaking practices. Korea dates to 1919 — a century before the Festival, is the highest­grossing live­ac­ He noted the increased regional cooperation appearance of Parasite — although the South Korean films as attractions for both South Korean films were exported that tion Japanese film to hit the Chinese achieved through initiatives such as that launched industry only started to boom in the 1990s. domestic and global audiences, Magnan­ year, with a total value of $41.6 million. mainland. in Singapore. Magnan­Park said this boom can be Park said. He added that other key factors Yu Wanying, senior researcher at the Cai said Road Pictures paid close atten­ SEAFIC is a nonprofit organization based in attributed largely to the introduction of the included Korean narratives featuring Hol­ Sungkyun Institute of China Studies, or tion to Parasite and was interested in Bangkok, Thailand, that aims to strengthen the Sunshine Policy in 1998, which trans­ lywood­style special effects and action SICS, at Sungkyunkwan University in bringing the film to the mainland, but in quality of feature­length films produced in the formed the political landscape on the Kore­ scenes, along with the “sensibilities and Seoul, said, “With a bigger market share the end, the company did not strike a deal. region by assisting moviemakers to advance an Peninsula in the pursuit of mutual aesthetics of European art cinema”. in the domestic market, the influence and “We have been in close contact with dif­ scripts and develop projects. Each year, it selects coexistence with enhanced economic popularity of the country’s films can even ferent institutions in South Korea, includ­ five filmmakers to help develop in this way. cooperation. Significant contribution equal those made in Hollywood.” ing major filmmakers and industry Phathanavirangoon said scriptwriting in South­ “The political and economic aspects of South Korea is the world’s fifth­largest South Korean movies have long had a bodies,” Cai said, adding that he looks for­ east Asia, and even in East Asia, is still lacking in the Sunshine Policy also had a cultural film market in terms of box office admis­ huge impact in Asia, pioneering the third­ ward to other opportunities for coopera­ some fields, especially when compared with dimension within South Korea,” Magnan­ sions, according to The Korea Herald, cit­ generation of hallyu or the Korean Wave tion, such as co­productions and North America and Europe, where “very clear sys­ Park said. This has led to loosened govern­ ing data from the UNESCO Institute of — the rise in global popularity of South remakes. tems” are in place. His organization has held talks ment censorship over the arts, reversal of a Statistics. Korean culture. The first­generation of Noting the impact that the pandemic and lectures on scriptwriting in 13 Southeast ban on Japanese cultural products and Last year, box office revenue for films hallyu is often considered to be led by has had on the global movie industry, Cai Asian cities, bringing together leading filmmakers “allowed coverage of South Korea’s painful made in the country reached $823 mil­ dramas and the second by K­pop. said that as film production in the US and from around the world. and often shameful past to be addressed in lion, up from $203 million 15 years earli­ Yu said, “Behind the success of Parasite Europe has largely been suspended, there “In Southeast Asia, our markets are pretty small, an open and honest manner,” he added. er, according to the consultancy Statista. is the huge amount of investment poured could be new opportunities in the second but there is a lot of potential to work together and In 1999, Shiri, an action film by South While modest compared with the $11.3 by the South Korean government into half of this year or the first half of next to see ways to collaborate and open possible markets Korean director Kang Je­gyu, became the billion movie industry in the United developing and promoting hallyu, fill the gap caused by a lack of movies. to new audiences,” Phathanavirangoon said. country’s first Hollywood­style block­ States, it is nonetheless a significant con­ including all kinds of preparations made Magnan­Park said, “Once the inter­ Fu, from EnData, said the China­led Belt and buster. It made international headlines tribution to the global film landscape. for its globalization.” national medical emergency is over, Road Initiative, which promotes connectivity by beating the epic romance and disaster The domestic market share of films In a budget plan released in December, filmmakers will restart stalled projects among countries and regions, can provide oppor­ film Titanic on home turf, with ticket made in South Korea in 2018 was 51 per­ the South Korean authorities allotted a and find inspiration to make more tunities for cooperation in co­production, fun­ sales reaching 6.5 million. cent, based on admissions, according to record­high 6.48 trillion won ($5.3 bil­ compelling movies, including those draising, copyright and distribution. The movie marked the emergence of the Korea Film Council. Meanwhile, 603 lion) to the culture ministry for this year focusing on COVID­19.” For example, China has signed film co­produc­ tion agreements with more than 20 countries, including South Korea, India, Singapore, Kazakh­ stan and Japan, according to the China Film Co­Production Corporation. Last year, 94 feature film co­production pro­ jects were approved, the highest number for five years. Movies such as Enter the Girl Dragon, a co­production with India, and Shouliezhe 12 (Hunter 12), a co­production with Malaysia, are expected to be released this year, according to China Film News. Jin, from SFU, said that as the initiatives grow, cultural creators in Belt and Road countries will have more opportunities to work together, adding that it is critical to respect each nation’s media environment. BRI countries need to expand agreements on film cooperation, both financially and legally, to produce mutual benefits, Jin said. The coronavirus pandemic will cause signifi­ cant harm to global entertainment, including the film industry, as moviegoers cannot go to theaters Left and center: Scenes from Shoplifters, which in 2018 won the Palme d’Or, the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival. Right: A scene from Train to and filmmakers may be unable to resume produc­ Busan. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY tion for a while, Jin said.