Risk or chance: ‘the liberalization of foreign film imports’ and its impacts in Korea and Japan

Abstract

This paper outlines the background of the abolition of restrictions on foreign film imports and the influence of this action in Korea and Japan. In order to develop this argument, the paper focuses on policy tendencies, the structure of the film industry, and the reactions of the film industry players in each country. In Korea, the decision provoked an outcry and street demonstrations from both civil society as well as the film industry players. By contrast, in Japan, not only was opposition to liberalization rarely expressed, but some people actually demanded liberalization. The author analyzes the reasons why the players in each country reacted in different ways to similar policy decisions, through two types of models, the ‘market-led model’ of Japan and the ‘government-led model’ of Korea.

Keyword:

• foreign film
• film import policy
• vertical integration
• film policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In 1954, the foreign exchange management department of the Finance Ministry clarified the purpose of ‘the restriction on foreign film import’ as follows: ‘Especially, pressure from the American film industry is a problem for governments as well as the film industries of various countries. Each government scheme plans to protect their own film industry from foreign films, especially American films. The UK, France and Italy are protecting it through ‘screen quota systems’, the restriction on screening of foreign films as a domestic act. Moreover, films have been admitted as an exception of national treatment in GATT. (…) In Japan as a free nation, foreign film imports have been restricted for only the management of foreign exchange, but we have to consider also the protection of the Japanese film industry from the foreign films.’ (The Finance Ministry 1954, p. 8, translated by the author).

2. To avoid any need for the MITI minister to intervene directly and give permission to import items, MITI established a standard for ‘importing past records’ (Okazaki 1997, p. 109). This suggests that MITI applied the same import quota criteria to film imports.

3. National Archives of Korea.

4. (1) Screening more than six Korean films each year and more than 90 screening days each year (1966). (2) Screening more than three Korean films each year and more than 30 screening days each year (1970). (3) More than 1/3 of screening days each year (121 screening days) (1973). (4) More than 2/5 of screening days each year and reciprocal screening of Korean and foreign films in cities of more than 300,000 (146 screening days) (1985). (5) More than 73 screening days each year (2006).

5. A print of Battleship Potemkin was donated to the Japanese Motion Picture Directors Association by the Soviet Film Import–Export Public Corporation. Donated films could be shown on a nonprofit basis, once they had passed through customs (Yomiuri newspaper 1960).

6. According to the press, ATG was a unique chain of art houses launched with the support of major companies in the 1960s. Toho contributed a hundred thousand dollars, providing ten branch theaters for ATG. One can speculate that Toho’s main reason for supporting ATG was as follows: Toho believed that art films would attract a niche market. Toho also had many branch theaters but inadequate production capabilities. Its Vice President, Mori Iwao, was very interested in art films. Meanwhile, ATG, established in 1962, had no choice but to accept support from Toho and Towa in order to obtain foreign films before liberalization.

7. However, this severe recession was caused not only by the open market, but by contradictions in the Korean film industry of that time. Economically, the film industry was part of the highly competitive market system through a mandatory open market. Politically, however, filmmakers were still not allowed freedom of expression under the authoritarian regime of the period. This was the case from 1986, when the film market first opened, to 1993, when the first democratic government was established.

8. Dongsoong Cinematheque was officially designated an ‘art theater’ in 1997. According to this type of government accreditation, this theater was refunded its Tax for Art and Literature Promotion, in accordance with the Motion Pictures Act, instead of screening art films on three out of its five annual screening days (Korean Film Year Book 1998).