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UCLA International Institute

Golden Age of Cinema in Postwar South Korea (1954-1972)

Before the recent global popularity of South Korean films and dramas, the 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of some of the most dynamic cinematic auteurs who produced films such as Madame Freedom (1956), The Housemaid (1960), Mother and a Guest (1961), and Aimless Bullet (1961).

Saturday, Feb. 4, 1 p.m.

Free

Main Conference Room (11360), Young Research Library (YRL)

Before the recent global popularity of South Korean films and dramas, the 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of some of the most dynamic cinematic auteurs who produced films such as Madame Freedom (1956), The Housemaid (1960), Mother and a Guest (1961), and Aimless Bullet (1961). This two-day symposium (Saturday, Feb. 4th at UCLA and Sunday, Feb. 5th at the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles) will discuss this era, its directors, and films that have influenced generations of Korean film makers thereafter. 

Featured film scholars, writers, and movie critics include Christina Klein, Steven Chung, Jyung Hyun Kim, Irhe Sohn, the author Paul Fischer and legendary movie critic and translator Darcy Paquet. Namhee Lee, Laura Ha Reizman, and Kathleen McHugh will moderate roundtable discussions. The symposium is free and takes places in person. 

This event is organized by GYOPO and co-presented by Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, and UCLA Center for Korean Studies (CKS); sponsored by UCLA Center for the Study of Women/Barbara Streisand Center, Susan Baik, and Prem Manjooran and Document Coffee. 

Dates and Place: Saturday, February 4th, 2023 at Main Conference Room (Rm 11360) of Young Research Library (YRL), UCLA and Sunday, February, 5th, 2023 at the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles  

 For the details about this symposium, including bios of speakers, please check related document attached below, and RSVP by clicking Day One. For the second day at the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, please RSVP by clicking Day Two.  

Welcome and Introduction

1:00-1:15 PM

From Patriarchy to the Après Girl 

Presentation featuring Madame Freedom by director Han Hyung-mo

1:15 - 2:15 PM

Christina Klein (Boston College) 

Moderated by Namhee Lee (University of California, Los Angeles)

Refreshments 

2:15-2:45 PM

 

Cinema in the Cold War Era

2:45-4:25 PM

Travis Workman (University of Minnesota)

     Realism and Melodrama in the Golden Age 

David Scott Diffrient (Colorado State University) 

     Auteur Lee Man-hee: Genre and Cultural Intermixing in South Korea's Golden Age War Films 

Virginia Moon (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 

     Nora Noh - The First Fashion Designer of Film and The Runway 

Moderated by Kathleen McHugh (University of California, Los Angeles) 

Break 

4:25-4:35 PM

Q & A 

4:35 PM

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