해방 이후 뉴스-문화영화 제작사 연구 ― 민간 영화사를 중심으로 ―

Abstract

Since the Korean liberation from the Japanese rule, a wide range of Korean filmmakers believed there was a need for a production center that was managed by the state, or the National Film Production Center. One of the major reasons was because of the poor condition of the Korean film industry at the time. After the liberation, all the Korean film industry had was equipment that were left at the Chosǒn Film Production Company. During this time, filmmakers in Chosǒn Korea strongly believed they need to make films for “nation-building” and “enlightenment of the people.” To this end, they thought the state should create a foundation for the film industry, which could not be laid with private capital. Their belief had been fueled by the threatening fact that American films began to dominate the Korean film market, and the Korean film industry lacked the skills and the capital to simply overcome this threat with commercial capital. However, the founding of a national film production company was a difficult dream to achieve because of the situation in Korea, and filmmakers interested in enlightening and educating the people established production companies that produced news films, culture films, and document films. According to the interests of each production company, a variety of news films and culture films were made on issues such as sanitation, physical education, education, tourism, geography, and politics. Although the most popular news films and culture films at the time had been produced by the US Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), film produced by Korean filmmakers also received spotlights. These films also provided a discursive field in which a number of different positions and stances on topics were presented. With the founding of Taehan Film Productions in 1949, the state began official productions of news films and culture films, and mandatory regulations to screen news films and cultural films in theaters began to be strictly implemented. As the state’s control over films grew considerably, contents that relatively publicized the state administration or overtly ideological messages were reinforced in news films and culture films. This trend gradually became more prevalent after the war, and the establishment of the National Film Production Company in 1961 marked a crucial point that officially demonstrated this trend.