Border Crossings in Celluloid Asia: South Korea’s Encounter with Sinophone Cinemas in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan
Project: Research
Description
The proposed project will explore how South Korean cinema, from the 1950s to the new millennium, was affected by regional and trans-regional networks that included the diasporic Sinophone cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. I will examine how the practice of transnational coproduction shaped what are commonly perceived as national cinemas. To do so, I will consider three eras of the postwar cinema network in Asia. The first era began in 1957 and linked South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. I will then examine the second era, which began in the 1970s and was characterized by a movement toward a globalized mode of coproduction. The third era encompasses the post-Cold War Asia-Pacific in the new millennium. I will argue that the network between South Korea and the Sinophone cinemas resulted from the region’s shared post-war trauma, colonial/post-colonial/transnational culture, Cold War politics, new economic conditions, and historical inter-connectedness. With this historical study of the regional culture industries of the late 1950s through the current era, I aim to shift attention from the concept of national cinema to a new perspective on transnational film history based on the material existence of regional film culture. The proposed project will bring forgotten subjects back to history and shed new light on current discourses on globalization in regional/local cinema production and reception in Asia.During the 36-month grant period, I will prepare a monograph to be published in English by a major international university press and publish at least two articles in impactful cinema studies and Asian studies journals. This project will be grounded in original archival research. Therefore, it will be necessary to make multiple research trips to South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the US to examine source materials. In addition to the monograph and journal articles, I will organize and host an international film studies conference on the related subject. The papers presented at the conference will be compiled into a special issue of an academic journal or an edited volume with a major international press. This project will constitute a paradigm-shifting addition to the expanding field of the transnational history of Asian cinema. I aim that this project will be an indispensable resource for researchers whose work investigates the cross-border production, circulation, and consumption of film in the region.Detail(s)
Project number | 9043646 |
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Grant type | GRF |
Status | Active |
Effective start/end date | 1/01/24 → … |