Day 1: 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). 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.

1:00-1:15 p.m. - Welcome and Introduction

• From Patriarchy to the Après Girl

1:15 - 2:15 p.m. - Presentation featuring Madame Freedom by director Han Hyung-mo

• Christina Klein (Boston College)
• Moderated by Namhee Lee (University of California, Los Angeles)

2:15-2:45 p.m. - Refreshments

2:45-4:25 p.m. - Cinema in the Cold War Era

• 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)

4:25-4:35 p.m. - Break

4:35 p.m. - Q & A