Strategies for activating youth film education: focusing on the achievements and limitations of the Korea Film Council (2018–2022)

Abstract

This article proposes possible directions for the long-term development of film education based on an analysis of the achievements and limitations of the Korean Film Council’s Youth Film Education Activation Project from its seventh (2018–21) and eighth (2021–2) terms, as well as the background and nature of the project and its budgetary trends. Since 2018, the Korean Film Council has reviewed the discourses about film education that have arisen from various fields, and, in particular, it has conducted research into overseas film education case studies. Furthermore, it has supported film education teacher research groups, directly operated a pool of film education practitioners, and taken active steps to publicise the importance of film education. However, due to the freezing of the Film Council’s budget from 2021, and the extent to which its 2022 budget was allocated for the operation of pilot schools, overarching visions for the activation of Korean film education have yet to be realised. The article adopts a reflective, critical perspective on the council’s activities during this period, while considering the future of film education in South Korea more generally.