Cinema of Korea
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Korea |
|---|
| Society |
| Arts and literature |
| Other |
| Symbols |
|
The cinema of Korea encompasses the film industries of North Korea and South Korea, as well as the historical film industries of Korea as the kingdom of Joseon and under Japanese occupation. While both countries have relatively robust film industries today, only South Korean films have achieved wide international acclaim. North Korean films typically portray Juche ideology or revolutionary themes.
South Korean films enjoyed a "golden age" during the late 1950s and 1960s, but by the 1970s had become generally considered to be of low quality. Nonetheless, by 2005 South Korea became a nation that watched more domestic than imported films in theatres. This was partially a result of laws placing limits on the number of foreign films able to be shown per theatre per year, but this was mostly due to the growth of the Korean entertainment industry, which quadrupled in size during this period. It has been noted that Korean movies have consistently outperformed foreign with very few exceptions in the Korean box office.