1950년대 한국 영화산업과 미국의 원조－아시아재단의 정릉 촬영소 조성을 중심으로－

Abstract

The Asia Foundation, a private and non-government organization, began research to help support Korean film industry in 1953. Charles Tanner produced a draft of support plan consecutively in 1953 and 1954. In 1955, John Miller who was in charge of film division at Tokyo Office of the Asia Foundation visited Korea produced the report after a survey of the film industry. Both Tanner and Miller pointed out two major obstacles of the industry: the destruction of film production facilities and network, and the direct control of the state over the film industry. To initiate changes, The Asia Foundation set up Korean Motion Picture Cultural Association, a private, non-profit, non-political organization. KMPCA oversaw the film production equipment and facilities that the Asia Foundation donated, and in turn made a significant contribution to the growth of Korean film industry in the late 1950s. However, the effort to overcome the state’s control over the industry was not successful, as such endeavor became completely eclipsed by the new development: the United States government’s enormous assistance and aids for Korea’s development of public information and propaganda filmmaking. This paper is based on the research on archival materials housed at Hoover Institute of Stanford University, and it aims to illuminate the formative influence that the United States and its cultural agencies performed in the post-war Korea.