Busan National University Film Institute to Hold Academic Conference on 'East Asian Cinema'

Exploring Cinematic Networks of Boundaries and Connections

"Seeking New Possibilities through Challenge and Response"

Pusan National University (President Choi Jaewon) Film Research Institute (Director Seo Daejeong) will hold the "2024 Pusan National University Film Research Institute Summer Academic Conference" on the 31st at 1:00 PM in Room 102 of Seonghak Hall on campus.

Since 2009, the Pusan National University Film Research Institute has held annual academic conferences focusing on major topics such as the narrative, history, industry, and auteur theory of Asian cinema.

This summer academic conference will be held under the theme "Challenges and Responses, the Genesis of Borders and Connections in East Asian Cinema." The conference aims to restructure East Asian cinema through the dynamic principles of challenge and response, explore the boundaries and connections that emerge within, and discuss the practical possibilities inherent in the concept of "East Asian cinema."

East Asian cinema occupies an important part of world cinema, encompassing both industrial and artistic dimensions and possessing complex internal characteristics. The transnational film environment necessitates observation from the perspective of interdependent networks that transcend national borders and operate both within and beyond each region.

Since 2021, the Pusan National University Film Research Institute has been conducting research to establish the "cine-episteme" of East Asian cinema by examining its particularity, interrelatedness, and dynamism under the concept of "East Asian Cinema-Network" and concretizing its order. This academic conference marks the first step in a new transitional phase, building on the research achievements of the past three years.

The academic conference will be held in three sessions.

Session 1, "East Asian Transformations of Genre Cinema," will explore intertextuality centered on the genre characteristics and audience reception of East Asian cinema. Presentations will cover topics such as family romance films like "Like Father, Like Son," Asian exploitation films, and comparative studies of Korean and Japanese action films such as "The Outlaws" and "Rurouni Kenshin."

Session 2, "The Past, Present, and Future of East Asian Film Policy," will analyze the film policies of various East Asian countries in their historical contexts. Presentations will address colonial film policies in Joseon and Taiwan, film policy in China under Xi Jinping, and the formation of networks through film residency programs.

Finally, Session 3, "Refraction and Reflection: Interacting Discourses," will compare and analyze film exchanges and discourse formation among East Asian countries. Topics include research on the potential spread of K-occult films in Asia centered on the success of "Exhuma," auteur criticism in Japanese cinema, and studies of director Jia Zhangke's films from both Korean and Chinese perspectives.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.