ACF 209: Korean Films Made During Japanese Occupation @ MoMA

Spring in the Korean Peninsula

Directed by Lee Byeong-Il

Korea, 1941, 84 min.

In 2003 and 2004, several Korean films made during the period of Japanese occupation were found in China. They are the earliest extant works of Korean cinema. New 35mm prints were struck by The Korean Film Archive and will be shown at the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at the Musem of Modern Art. The series, jointly presented by The Korea Society and MoMA, will run from Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 through Sunday, February 1st, 2009.

Korean Films Made During Japanese Occupation is the first time the films have been screened outside of Korea and the only time they will be shown before being returned to the Korean archives.

Spring in the Korean Peninsula will kick off the series with a screening on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 @ 6:00 PM. An adaptation of a traditional Korean tale, it tells the story of a backstage romance between a director and an actress that undergoes a crisis when the director is jailed.

It will be screened a second time on Saturday, January 31st, 2009 @ 1:00 PM.

Another film will also screen on the 28th. Straits of Chosun (1943), a domestic melodrama about a marriage torn apart, will be shown at 8:00 PM.

Further information about the series and admission terms are available at moma.org and at koreasociety.org.