A government-funded organization responsible for collecting and preserving materials related to Korean cinema unveiled Thursday seven new films from the Japanese colonial era that were obtained from Russia and Germany.

The Korean Film Archive (KOFA) revealed parts of these seven new clips, which depict everyday life in Korea under Japanese rule as well as Japanese colonial economic policy, at a press conference at the Korea Press Center.

These materials were gathered as a result of KOFA’s “continued efforts to conduct discovery and research expeditions abroad,” according to KOFA director Ryu Jae-lim.

The videos brought from Russia include the 23-minute “North Joseon Sheep Speak” (1934) and an untitled seven-minute film given the working title “Hwanghae Stockbreeding Fair” (1924). Both were created by members of the Japanese administration responsible for managing the colonial Korea in the early 20th century.

According to Song Kue-jin, a history professor at Korea University who analyzed the films for their historical value, “North Joseon Sheep Speak” is the most significant discovery yet for scholars specializing in the Japanese colonial period, particularly those studying economic history. The footage contains a detailed description of the northern half of the widely known, but little-researched, policy of Japan to “raise cotton in the south and sheep in the north.”

“The southern side has been researched, but there is very little research done about the north because of the difficulties that come with the region,” he said. In Song’s opinion, “North Joseon Sheep Speak” provides a rare glimpse into the way in which Australian sheep were brought into Joseon Korea and raised to produce wool.

Song explained that Japan used Korea as a resource to strengthen its competitiveness in the textile trade, mirroring Britain’s creation of an economic bloc with its colonies.

Created as a promotional film, it includes graphics showing the ocean routes used to import Australian sheep as well as “easy” captions from the perspective of the sheep, ostensibly to promote Japan’s policies among “both adults and children.”

Song said that the film also demonstrated heretofore unknown activities of the Oriental Development Company, which Japan set up in 1908 to oversee exploitative economic policies in Korea.

“We learned that (the company) operated sheep farms, and played an important part in the implementation of the ‘sheep in the north’ policy,” he said.

The other untitled film from Russia shows a “stockbreeding fair,” a large “expo-style” event held at Sariwon in Hwanghae-do (today’s North Hwanghae Province in North Korea) for showing various animal products that were also filmed by Japanese authorities as part of their efforts to promote economic policy.

Song said that he came across articles in his research that referenced budgets allocated for cleaning up the streets before the fair, demonstrating the importance of husbandry in Japan’s economic policy.

According to Jeong Kwang-heon, manager of KOFA’s acquisition department, the two clips from Russia were part of a group of 183 rolls of film discovered in August 2010, and were selected for replication and transportation back to Korea in 2011 following their analysis.

Meanwhile, the new films from Germany were discovered in 2014 during a discovery expedition at the St. Ottilien Archabbey in Munich, Germany. The expedition was launched after KOFA became aware in 2009 of the possibility of finding additional footage shot by Norbert Weber, a priest who came to Korea during the Japanese colonial era and eventually produced the film “In the Land of the Morning Calm” (1927). 

The newly acquired material includes the original unedited footage from “In the Land of the Morning Calm,” as well as four additional short films -- “Korean Wedding,” “In the Midst of Korean Children,” “Missionary Work in Korea” and “Worshipping Ancestors.”

Jang explained that the discovery was meaningful because of the high quality of the original negatives, as well as the color-tinted versions that added a sepia tone for more clarity.

Song said that he could not comment on the significance of the films from Germany in the context of cinematic history because he was not a film specialist, but said that the content would “appeal to the public” because it depicted everyday life in detail. The clips that were revealed to the press Thursday included scenes showing children dancing and being taught in outdoor classes as well as missionaries speaking to locals.

All of the discovered clips will be screened for free on March 1 at Cinematheque KOFA to commemorate this year’s March 1 Independence Movement Day. For the screening schedule and more information visit www.koreafilm.or.kr.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)