영화인 구술사로 한국영화사 추리하기 -영화기업 ‘세기상사’를 중심으로-

Abstract

In the study of Korean film history, the memories of filmmakers who actually experienced the history can be a very important source in the absence of documentary or video materials. Therefore, this study aims to utilize the accumulated oral history of filmmakers as a result of the ‘oral history documents of film personnel’ conducted by the Korean Film Archive since 2004 to study the foreign importers of the 1950s, which have not been studied much in Korean film history due to the lack of historical records. Among the many foreign currency importers that were active in the 1950s, we investigated what kind of company Century Corporation was and the nature of its operating entity, which had a lot of influence at the time but whose activities are still shrouded in mystery. The company started as an importer of various raw materials, and in 1954, it entered the movie industry, a field in which CEO Kook Kwae-nam was personally interested. By the 1960s, the company had accumulated capital by operating theaters and creating its own distribution system, and by 1970, it had become one of the pillars of the Korean film industry, not only importing foreign currency but also producing, distributing, and promoting Korean films. During the 1960s, when companies in the manufacturing and construction sectors accumulated capital by expanding their affiliates and later grew intoconglomerates, Century Corporation, surprisingly, invested its capital in film and sought to grow into a conglomerate in the cultural industry through the oral histories of filmmakers who worked for or with Century Corporation at the time.