Han Hyung-mo: The Alchemist of Popular Genres

This is the second result of the ‘Illumination Series’ jointly planned and published by the Korean Film Archive and the Pusan International Film Festival. The 2nd illumination series, ‘Han Hyeong-mo: Melodrama/Genre Alchemist’ after the first one, ‘Kim Seung-ho: Face of Father, Portrait of Korean Cinema’ provides illumination from various perspectives of the life and films of director Han Hyeong-mo, who was the protagonist of the 13th Pusan International Film Festival Retrospective Exhibition. He pioneered the genre and grammar of popular Korean cinema in the 1950s. The writers for this series include researchers Jo Joon-hyeong and Jeong Jong-hwa at the Korean Film Archive, visiting professor Kim Seon-a at Chung-Ang Univ. Graduate School of Advanced Imaging Science, Digital/Science Photography, and HK research professor Oh Yeong-sook at Sungkonghoe University. The series also contains a retrospective interview with director Kim Kee-duk about director Han Hyeong-mo’s production style and characteristics. Director Kim Kee-duk, who directed ‘Barefooted Youth,’ worked as assistant director on ‘Pure Love,’ which was directed by Han Hyeong-mo.