조선영화는 어떻게 ‘반도예술영화’로 호명되었는가－<한강(漢江)>의 일본 배급을 중심으로－

Abstract

Focusing on the fact that a colonial Korean (Joseon) talkie project Han River was completed with the sponsorship for post-production by Towa Shoji-Film, a European art film distributor in mainland Japan, I probe into the decisive elements of a colonial Korean (Joseon) film; why Towa decided distribution of a Joseon film Han River to Japan. First of all, examining a precedent of a Joseon and Japanese coproduction film Nageune/Tabiji’s distribution to mainland Japan, I paid attention to colonial Korean director’s apprenticeship at film studios in mainland Japan, the technical tie-up for production, the distributing model of ‘Japanese subtitled version,’ and finally reception of discourse in the Japanese film scene against colonial Korean films. I confirmed that these elements were also shown from Han River’s production and Towa’s distribution in similar context. Especially, this paper concentrates on denominating a Joseon film ‘a peninsula art film,’ since the Japanese film scene had formed discourse on ‘local color’ and ‘the Joseoness.’ Nevertheless, a Joseon film could not be received as an art film to the viewers of Towa Shoji-Film. This distribution of a Joseon film Han River to Japan describes a revealing dynamics between a colony and an empire.