History of Korea-Hong Kong Co-Production

In 1955, the 2nd Southeast Asia Film Festival was held in Singapore. The film festival, which was initiated by Japan and Hong Kong and sponsored by the United States, was a sort of ‘Asian Filmmakers Forum’ with the goal of promoting friendship and exchange among Asian filmmakers. Im Hwa-su was among the Korean film producers who traveled to Singapore that year on behalf of the post-war Korean film industry.

Starring Korean top star Kim Jin-kyu and leading Hong Kong actress Lucilla Yu Ming, Love with an Alien was a hit in both Korea and Hong Kong. Three directors were in charge of directing: Korea's Jeon Chang-keun, Hong Kong's Tu Kuang-chi, and Japan's Wakasugi Mitsuo. Nishimoto tadashi, a young Japanese cinematographer at the time, was in charge of the color shooting, and starting with this, he shot numerous martial arts films in Hong Kong in the 1960s.

The Last Woman of Shang was one of the biggest box office hits of 1964, attracting 150,000 viewers when it was released in Korea. Thanks to this, Shin and Run Run Shaw produced three more films: Tyrant (left), Black Thief (center) and An Emperor with Iron Mask (right), but unfortunately, except for Tyrant, the audience’s reception of other two films were unfavorable. Besides, Tyrant was also not as successful as The Last Woman of Shang.

It is said that two actors wore the same makeup and wardrobes and took turns filming at the time of making this film. This method is similar to Hollywood's practice of producing in two languages by changing actors to target the South American market in 1930s. It was a rare case in Korea, but Hong Kong's film companies had produced films in their respective languages with local actors to distribute them in various Southeast Asian countries.

In the mid-60s, spy films, represented by the 007 series, enjoyed popularity all over the world, and the Korean film industry worked hard to create a ‘Korean-style James Bond.’ The craze for spy films started in 1964 and peaked in 1965 and 1966. Representative works include A Female Spy, Elisa; The International Spy; Starberry Kim; Secret Agency; SOS Hong Kong; Special Agent X-7 and Correspondent in Tokyo.

When Chung Chang-wha arrived in Hong Kong, Run Run Shaw handed him the scenario for an action movie. With two Korean assistant directors and the Korean actors Nam Seok-hun and Seong Hun, he quickly completed Temptress of a Thousand Faces (1969), an action film that runs across Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper in Asia. And as the film garnered a better-than-expected response across Southeast Asia, Dir. Chung got off to a good start in his Hong Kong career.

On the other hand, the 'fake co-production’ phenomenon increased in the 1970s. Shin Films had its actors star in Shaw Brothers' films as a way to secure the number of productions and set a quota for screening foreign films in Korea. In this way, Hwang Jeong-ri, Jin Bong-jin, Kim Ki-ju, Hong Seong-jung and many other actors appeared as supporting roles in Shaw Brothers’ films from 1971 until 1975 when Shin Films was out of business.

In fact, fake co-production also happened frequently in Taiwan and Malaysia at the time, and large Hong Kong film companies such as Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest also turned a blind eye to it. In the mid-70s, Taiwan and Korea proceeded with a number of fake co-productions. At that time, there were many filmmakers who moved from Hong Kong to Taiwan, and they conducted various fake co-production films with Korea. This trend continued into the early 1980s.

As a result, Korean producers turned to production investment instead of co-production. Meanwhile, as the Chinese film market opened in the early 2000s, Hong Kong monopolized the role of intermediary between Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Singaporean, and Western film industries seeking to enter the Chinese market. And the traces of the network between Hong Kong and Korea that was established at that time is still evident to this day.