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S. Korea's film exports up nearly 30 percent in 1st half

For the last year, Korea's film export has gathered a cumulative force as it goes, but in the 1st half of this year, the export has showed a slight increase from a year earlier.

According to the Korean Film Council under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the country's film export increased 28.6 percent from a year ago to US$41.80 million. South Korea shipped a total of 153 films to 52 nations, with an average export price of $273,268 per unit, the council said.

Rapid increase in exports to South America

South Korea's exports of films rose significantly, especially to the Asian region where their popularity is growing. The proportion of exports to Asia out of the entire film exports rose 18.4 percentage points to 80.4 percent, while the portion to the North American region slipped 11.7 percentage points to a mere 3.3 percent. Meanwhile, film exports to South America were up 108.3 percent.

It is noticeable that a total of 14 films, which include of Kim Ki-duk, of Bong Joon-ho and of Ahn Byeong-ki, were exported to 7 countries in South America such as Venezuela, Argentina and Columbia. "In spite of trifling sales as of now, interests and awareness related to Korean films seem to be growing in this region. This is, we think, very encouraging in terms of market diversification", said the council.

The council attributed the surge of movie shipments to Asia to a continuous increase in exports to Japan. Japan's interests in Korean films from 2004 has led an increased average export price, and even films by renowned director or of popular actor/actress have been pre-purchased or invested during the procedure of scenario making.

Such examples in 2005 are films directed by noted directors; of Bong Joon-ho, of Lee Myung-se, of Park Chan-wook, of Ahn Byeong-ki and so on. In addition, starring Bae Yong-joon, known as Yonsama who is at the center of "Korean fever" as well as starring Kwon Sang-woo, well-known in Japan through TV dramas, were already shipped to Japan at a high export price before release.

"It seems that Korean films' unpredictable exports has been resumed its seat in the 1st half of 2005. During this period, the sales were pretty much concentrated in the Japanese market so that we were worried if it is a bubble reputation. However, interests in Korean films is steadily increasing, which means that we are gaining a stable foothold in some degree", according to the council.

They also explain that exports to the European market vary depends on country but sales figures are growing, besides exports to South America, which was a frontier, is very encouraging.

The Source : Koreacontent News Team

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