Screening of North Korean films in South Korea

New rapprochements and the case of the 22nd BIFAN

Abstract

The present article explores how the experience of the 22nd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), in 2018, where the first public screening of a North Korean film took place in South Korea, modified the dynamics of exchanges between the two countries in the film field. Three feature films and six short films produced in North Korea were showcased in a thematic exhibition. A historical overview is provided, starting from the separation of the Korean peninsula in 1945 to the first commercial and people exchanges between the two countries in the 1970s. The evolution of cultural exchanges between the two countries is discussed based on articles from newspapers and specialized film magazines, aiming to contextualize the entire 2018 event and its cultural impact. The implications of this film exhibition in the history of screenings in South Korea, as well as the process they went through to be authorized by the South Korean authorities, are examined. Some other initiatives, specifically those carried out by the Korean Film Council, are addressed to explain the phenomenon. Finally, we argue that the screening of these films within the framework of the 22nd BIFAN represents a significant advancement in the exchange between North Korea and South Korea in the film field and in the symbolic rapprochement between the two countries.