Straits of Joseon 1943, dir Park Gi-Chae, Korea.

With Mun Ye-bong, Kin Sin-Jae, Nam Seung-Min

The film follows the lives of a young couple who are divided by both war and family. Seiki and Kinshuko may be in love but Seiki’s upper class family have rejected his lower-class wife and refuse acknowledge the marriage. When Seiki’s elder brother dies at war he feels honour bound to volunteer for the army in his stead. Left pregnant and alone, Kinshuko decides to also work for the war effort. Between 1940 and 1945, Korean language was banned from the screen so all the cast speak in Japanese, a clear indication of the harsh colonial war-time rule that Korea was experiencing. Despite this complex background, Straits of Chosun captivates via a narrative of love, sacrifice and loyalty and a powerful use of editing and sound.

Early Korean Cinema: Lost Films from the Japanese Colonial Period

It was once assumed that all pre-1945 Korean cinema had vanished from existence, but in the 2000s a series of remarkable archival discoveries revealed a diverse treasure trove of melodramas, propaganda films and newsreels from the colonial period. We’re delighted to present them for the first time in the UK, thanks to the restoration work of the Korean Film Archive. Here you can learn about the stars, directors and politics of this complex and controversial period in Korean history – a time when the nation was under Japanese occupation. However, rejecting these products as nothing more than colonial propaganda refuses to acknowledge the skills, desires and ambitions of the Korean filmmakers behind them. These are unique creations that, despite their background, are the very origins of contemporary Korean cinema.