CONTEMPORARY KOREAN CULTURE SERIES
January-April 2007
The Korean culture series featured four aspects of contemporary Korean culture: film, music, art, and North Korean film.
Renaissance of Korean Film: Hollywood on the DMZ
January 25, 2007
From Shiri (1999) about a North Korean sniper to JSA (2000), a murder mystery set at DMZ's Joint Security Area to The Host (2006), about a monster arising from the U.S. Army's waste in the Han River, Korean film makers have been focused on political and social issues that previously were forbidden. Professor Min Hyunjun will show segments from several such films and discuss the reasons for their popularity.
Korean Music: Traditions Updated
February 26, 2007
Traditional sounds are fusing with contemporary music. Dr. Robert Provine will introduce popular styles of the new music that draw indpiration from Korea's heritage using examples and demostrations.
Please click here to see a pdf of the invitation.
What Makes Korean Art so Contemporary?
March 26, 2007
Contemporary Korean art is now dynamic and vibrant, with many widely-exhibited talents and two biennial exhitions of international 
art in Gwangju and Busan. This survey by Doryun Chong of the post-1980s developments will touch on important aspects of the new developments.
Illusive Utopia: Fifty Years of North Korean Film
April 30, 2007
Dr. Suk-Young Kim, a Library of Congress Fellow discussed the research for her book on how film is used as an institute of the government to carry out education and socialization of the North Korean people under the tutelage of the ¨Dear Leader,¨ Kim Jong–il. This presentation overviewed fifty years of North Korean films by exploring the questions of how the North Korean leadership's cinemania shaped the national film industry; how films are used as tools of education and socialization; and how North Korean films transformed since the 1980s. The talk will be accompanied by a variety of film clips and still images.
RELATED EVENTS
An Evening with Min Jin Lee A discussion of writing Free Food for Millionaires with Yoonmee Chang.
Cinema Korea A monthly film screening series of historically significant South Korean films.