Zainichi Cinema : Korean-in-Japan Film Culture

This book examines how filmmakers, curators, and critics created a category of transnational, Korean-in-Japan (Zainichi) Cinema, focussing on the period from the 1960s onwards. An enormously diverse swathe of films have been claimed for this cinema of the Korean diaspora, ranging across major studio yakuza films and melodramas, news reels created by ethnic associations, first-person video essays, and unlikely hits that crossed over from the indie distribution circuit to have a wide impact across the media landscape. Today, Zainichi-themed works have never had a higher profile, with new works by Matsue Tetsuaki, Sai Yoichi, and Yang Yonghi frequently shown at international festivals. Zainichi Cinema argues that central to this transnational cinema is the tension between films with an authorized claim to “represent”, and ambiguous and borderline works that require an active spectator to claim them as images of the Korean diaspora. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction: Koreans-in-Japan On-Screen....Pages 1-35 1968/2004: Bridging Imjin River ....Pages 37-64 Screening the Zainichi Subject....Pages 65-100 Excavating the Zainichi Yakuza Film....Pages 101-128 ‘Pacchigi Power!’: The ‘Coming-Out’ Melodrama....Pages 129-157 Arirang Kamikaze: Screening the Memory Wars....Pages 159-187 Intimate Ethnographies: Three Family Portraits....Pages 189-219 Conclusion....Pages 221-225 Back Matter....Pages 227-235