Inner page of Korean Popular Cinema and Television in the 21st Century—a special issue of Journal of Popular Film and Television
Prof. Kim Ji-hoon of School of Performing Arts and Media, Chung-Ang University (CAU) has significantly contributed to globalization of film and media studies by publishing papers and delivering lectures.
Prof. Kim edited the special issue of the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) journal titled “Korean Popular Cinema and Television in the 21st century” (Vol. 47, Apr 2019 - Issue.1). Starting from 2017, it took about two years for him to select articles, edit and publish the special issue. The special issue contains six articles covering a variety of subjects: Korean films of the 21th century that were not highlighted by Korean film and media studies in English-speaking countries despite their significance in popularity and film criticism, TV dramas including “Descendants of the Sun,” reality shows including “Three Meals a Day,” and consumption patterns of Korean dramas in Latin America. Prof. Kim selected five article abstracts from the list of 40 and collected their finished manuscripts and also added his own article analyzing the digital visual effects of “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” and “Ode to My Father” that attracted more than 10 million viewers from an aesthetic and ideological aspect and highlighting the importance of regional acceptance of Korean films and media production amid increasing global popularity of Korean culture. Prof. Kim said, “It is meaningful to publish this special issue as it highlights texts that were not fully recognized in conventional Korean films and media studies conducted abroad amid rapidly rising interest in Korean research and education backed by the increasing popularity of Korean pop culture in recent years.”
Audience gathered for an event “Constellation of History: The Archival Turn of Recent Korean Documentary Cinema”
held at Korean Cultural Center UK on Jan 24, 2019
Prof. Kim has significantly contributed to enhancing CAU’s international prestige in film and media studies since before the publication of the special issue by delivering lectures abroad and publishing research papers and books about experimental films and videos, films and modern art, digital films and media art as well as documentary films. Since he started to teach at CAU in September 2013, he has published an annual average of two A&HCI articles on Cinema Journal, Camera Obscura, Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. In 2018, his first book “Between Film, Video, and the Digital: Hybrid Moving Images in the Post-media Age” was published by a highly recognized academic & professional publisher Bloomsbury Academic.
Prof. Kim delivering his invited lecture “Post-verite Turns: Korean Documentary Cinema in the 21st Century” at Westminster School of Art on January 22, 2019
Since 2018, Prof. Kim has continuously shared his research outcomes and progress not only at major conferences including the ones held by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) but also at universities abroad upon their invitation made in recognition of his past achievements. In March 2018, he delivered invited lectures at Film Studies programs of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada and at School of East Asian Studies of McGill University. In the end of January 2019, he delivered lectures under various themes including Korea’s documentary films in the 21st century and post-Internet art at five different venues including the Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies of Birkbeck, University of London, University of Westminster and seminars jointly held by the Korean Cultural Center UK and film studies programs of University of Paris 3, 7 and 8. In particular, a cinematic event held under the theme of “Constellation of History: The Archival Turn of Recent Korean Documentary Cinema” on January 24 at Korean Cultural Center UK where two Korean documentary films selected by Prof. Kim were presented finished successfully, drawing more than 100 participants.
Prof. Kim’s invited lecture at a seminar jointly held by film studies programs of University of Paris 3, 7 and 8 on Jan 31, 2019
Prof. Kim has expressed his strong will to continue his film and media studies he has conducted through various platforms by publishing two books he is now working on in English. He is planning to publish his two books—“Documentary’s Expanded Fields: New Media, New Platforms, and the Documentary” that theorizes new types of documentaries that emerged thanks to the growth of digital media and platforms including interactive documentary, AI documentary, documentary-based installation art and “Post-vérité Turns: Korean Documentary Cinema in the 21st Century,” which will become the first book about the aesthetics of Korean documentary films and politics written in English—by the early 2020s.