A Look into the New York Korean Film Festival

The "New York Korean Film Festival" is an annual film festival currently organized by "The Korea Society" which strives to bring more knowledge and understanding of Korean culture along with building a bridge between the United States and Korea. It is not surprising as it would be expected for an advocacy group such as The Korea Society to take advantage of the medium of film to bring more knowledge of Korea to the United States. The New York Korean Film Festival seems to do just as The Korea Society aims to do. It counts as an Asian and Asian American film festival but at the same time focuses specifically on Korean cinema and culture.

In the past, the New York Korean Film Festival was created by "Subway Cinema" and the "Korean Film Forum". The Korea Society has taken over the film festival since 2006. It seems to be an interesting festival as there is a large Korean American community in New York City. It's about a year older than the "New York Asian Film Festival" also created by Subway Cinema, the New York Korean Film Festival seemed to stand strong over the last few years since its birth. The 2002 New York Korean Film Festival showcased twelve films. It would be the start of presenting Korean cinema to North America.

The films shown at the 2002 New York Korean Film Festival were: "Friend", "Bungee Jumping of Their Own", "Friend", "Guns & Talks", "Happy End", "My Beautiful Girl, Mari", "No Blood, No Tears", "Public Enemy", "Sorum", "Take Care of My Cat", "Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors", "Waikiki Brothers", and "The Butterfly". All of these films were about one to three years old at least when they were shown to audiences at the film festival. It's not necessarily surprising as a good number of Jackie Chan's films happened to be several years old before being aired in North American theaters. This was the same case with Tony Jaa's films: "Ong Back: Thai Warrior" and "The Protector".