Cinema for Foreigners

A cinema for foreigners, where they can see films subtitled in English, will come into being in Seoul.

Seoul Selection, a exporter of cultural products, will run a movie theater putting on the screen English-subtitled films at the third floor of Geumho art gallery in downtown Seoul starting Jan. 11 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Nowadays Korean films are drawing attention from the world, sweeping prizes at major international film festivals. However, there has not been a space for foreign moviegoers to enjoy Korean films. The cinema is run on the effect that to let foreigners know Korean films will lead to help Korean films make inroads into foreign movie markets.

Kim Hyung-geun, president of Seoul Selection, said, "Seoul has turned into an international city and the number of foreigners residing in it has been on the rise. But there has not a proper place for foreign moviegoers to see Korean movies. The cinema will provide foreigners with opportunities to understand Korean culture and at the same time it will help promote Korean films` advance into and increase the sale of Korean DVD films in foreign markets."

The movie theater plans to show a total of 40 Korean films that were already released on DVD this year. They include recent box-office hits such as "Swiri," "Yupgi Girl," "Hae-jeok Became the Disco King," "The Way Home," and "Oasis," and the 1960s films like "A Seashore Village," and "A Happy Day of Jinsa Maeng."

Korean films captioned in English will be put on a 180² screen through a DVD projector at 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and at 11:00 a.m. on Sundays. The cinema has 171 seats. The moviegoers can also appreciate exhibits at the gallery. The first film is "Joint Security Area" Admission fee 5,000 won. Tel. 02-734-9564

Soo-Kyung Kim skkim@donga.com