The Korean Film Archive or called Korean Federation of Film Archives and KOFA is the sole film archive in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
with nationwide coverage. It was founded in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
in 1974 as a non-profit organization. In 1976 KOFA joined the
International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) as an observer, and gained its full membership of FIAF in 1985.
KOFA's main duties are to collect, preserve and categorize films and film-related materials, as well as to foster accessibility to its collections. Most of remaining originals and copies of Korean films are preserved in KOFA. Its main center is in
Sangam-dong
Sangam-dong is a legal '' dong'' (neighborhood) of the Mapo District in Seoul, South Korea. In the wake of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, a large apartment complex and DMC business district have been created and developed into the center of western ...
, Seoul, with two local branch centers in
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...
and
Bucheon, and a secondary preservation center in
Seongnam. Its main center has several public facilities, including Cinematheque KOFA, Korean Film Museum, and a reference library. Recently KOFA has concentrated on digitization of Korean films, and has published several features of the Classic Korean Cinema DVD Collections. It also operates the most reliable online database of Korean films,
as well as an online film streaming service.
History
It was established as a Korean film storage center in 1974 in Namsan-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, and moved to Seocho-dong in 1990. Since 1991, it has been renamed as Korea Media Center by foundations. It was reorganized into a special corporation based on the Motion Picture Promotion Act in 2002. It built its own building in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu in May 2007 and formally reopened in the following year. It is composed of auxiliary and restored facilities equipped with an anti-air and photo-related facility for preserving film and other materials, Cinema Tech that provides movie screening and current affairs services, and a cinema that illuminates Korean film industry through the exhibition of film related materials. It is a member of the International Federation of Film Executions (FIAF) regular members, who hosted the Federation General Meeting in Seoul in 2002. It is a public organization for cultural services under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea government.
Functions
KOFA serves three main duties and various kinds of referential access services:
* Film Collection and Categorization
* Film Preservation, Restoration and Digitization
* Film Screening and Referential Services
* Publication of Academic and Referential Resources
* Operation of Online Databases on Korean Cinema
KOFA Film Collection Search*
Korean Movie Database online
Blu-ray releases
To coincide with its upcoming 40th anniversary in 2014, KOFA started releasing restored Korean classic and less known films on blu-ray.
One of the criteria for release of the films is their place in TOP 100 Korean films list.
The Housemaid,
Aimless Bullet and
The March of Fools received equal number of votes and they occupy the first place.
See also
*
International Federation of Film Archives
*
Cinematheque
*
Cinema of Korea
The term "Cinema of Korea" (or "Korean cinema") encompasses the motion picture industries of North and South Korea. As with all aspects of Korean life during the past century, the film industry has often been at the mercy of political events, ...
References
External links
Korean Film Archive websiteKorean Film Video On Demand
{{authority control
Film archives in Asia
Archives in South Korea
Film organizations in South Korea
1974 establishments in South Korea
Arts organizations established in 1974
FIAF-affiliated institutions