January 28-February 1, 2009

The Korea Society and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) are proud to present seven films from one of the earliest, and most complex, periods of Korean cinema. Recently discovered in a Chinese warehouse and restored by The Korean Film Archive, the films date from the 1930s and '40s, a period when Korea was dominated by the dictates of Japanese colonialists. These dramas are thus uncomfortably pro-Japanese. Yet simultaneously, their rich aesthetics and formal experimentation reach beyond imperial Japanese ideology to express timeless themes of longing, loss and duty.

The films will be shown in five programs from January 28 through February 1 at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at MoMa. All films are in Korean with English subtitles.

Tickets may be purchased from the MoMA box office. Click here for more information. (Museum full admission includes any film for that day.)

Films

Spring in the Korean Peninsula (1941)
Directed by Lee Byeong-Il
Starring Kim Il-Hae, Seo Wol-Young and Kim So-Young
84 minutes

A film adaptation of a traditional Korean tale, Spring in the Korean Peninsula is a backstage romance between a director and an actress that falls into crisis when the director is jailed. 

Straits of Chosun (1943)
Directed by Park Ki-Chae
Starring Nam Seung-Min, Moon Yae-Bong and Kim Shin-Jae
75 minutes

Made at the height of World War II, when Japanese censorship was at its tightest, Straits of Chosun tells the bittersweet story of a husband and wife separated by war.




Fisherman's Fire (1939)
Directed by Ahn Chul-Yeong
Starring Park Hak, Nah Woong and Park Jung-Kyeong
52 minutes

Following a fisherman's daughter as she moves from her seaside village to bustling Seoul and is quickly beset by shady characters, Fisherman's' Fire is about the things you lose when you lose your home.

Volunteer (1941)
Directed by Ahn Seok-Young
Starring Choi Woon-Bong, Moon Yae-Bong and Lee Keum-Ryong
55 minutes

A simple Korean farmer's son who aches to leave the countryside behind and fight for Imperial Japan finally gets his chance when colonial authorities enact a draft.



Angels on the Street (1941)
Directed by Choi In-Kyu
Starring Kim Il-Hae, Moon Yae-Bong and Kim Shin-Jae
73 minutes

Notably realistic for its era in depicting the gritty poverty of contemporary Seoul, Angels on the Street is the story of a man struggling to set up an orphanage for the city's street kids.



Sweet Dreams (1936)
Directed by Yang Ju-Nam
Starring Cho Taek-Won, Moon Yae-Bong and Yoo Sun-Ok
46 minutes

Korean cinema's first talkie, Sweet Dreams nearly left audiences speechless with its scandalous melodrama about a wife who abandons her family to live with another man.

Military Train (1938)
Directed by Seo Kwang-Jae
Starring Wang Pyeong and Moon Yae-Bong
66 minutes

Won-jin passes information about a Japanese military train to resistance fighters, putting the life of his best friend, the engineer, in danger in this hybrid of a spy thriller and a pro-Japanese morality play.



SCREENING SCHEDULE
Korean Films Made During the Japanese Occupation 

Wednesday, January 28
6:00 PM Spring in the Korean Peninsula
8:00 PM Straits of Chosun

Thursday, January 29
8:00 PM Fishermen's Fire and Volunteer

Friday, January 30
6:00 PM Angels on the Street
8:00 PM Sweet Dreams and Military Train

Saturday, January 31
1:00 PM Spring in the Korean Peninsula
3:00 PM Straits of Chosun
5:00 PM Angels on the Street

Sunday, February 1
1:00 PM Fishermen's Fire and Volunteer
3:30 PM Sweet Dreams and Military Train