This book is the first analysis that fully examines the historical, social, cultural, and intellectual construct that influenced the post-war pan-Asian film network during the two decades after the ceasefire of the Korean War in July 1953. The author judges that the Asian film culture and film industry were formed through the transnational cooperation and competition among newly independent nations and colonies, and views from diverse angles how financial and administrative support from the US institution backed them up. Specifically, this book looks over the film network created by film company executives, policymakers, intellectuals, and creative human resources at the peak of the Cold War and afterward. Such an analysis shows that these figures established regional organizations, co-hosted film festivals, and co-produced films to expand the film market and heighten the competitiveness of their products. This work foregrounds how they rationalized and institutionalized the mass-production system through the human exchanges among stars, directors, and major production staff. It argues that this network was the product of Cold War cultural politics and American hegemony. In the 1950s, the US institution, especially the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific, provided financial and administrative support for the Asian film industry and supported anti-Communist cultural producers, thus actively intervening in all areas of Asian film culture and the industry. It is at this point that the Asia Foundation is important. The field agents of this non-governmental organization established in 1951 shared a clear and coherent vision of ‘Free Asia’, and made the ‘local’ film producers and directors receive appropriate guidance from the anti-Communist veterans and the foundation managers of Hollywood. They encouraged local film producers and directors to fight the Communist force, and those efforts all led to the emergence of the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific.

<CHS 100-min. Talk 24-1>

Cinema and the Cultural Cold War: US Diplomacy and the Origins of the Asian Cinema Network

Presenter: Sangjoon Lee (City University of Hong Kong)
Discussants: Eun-Young Kim (Chugye University for the Arts) / Chonghwa Chung (Korean Film Archive)
Moderator: Sojeong Park (The Center for Hallyu Studies, SNUAC)