Struggling through an iffy translation and Im's taciturn demeanor, what follows is our conversation about Korean film crossover, feminism and the art of pansori. Korean films have yet to establish their own identity for international audiences. I am still amazed, in fact. One of the reasons Korean films fail to gain recognition with foreign audiences is because films from certain countries, say Chinese and Iranian, have become a distinctive genre in and of themselves. The popularity of these countries' cinema is why it's sometimes hard to draw peoples' attention to Korean films.
Korean films have yet to establish their own identity for international audiences.
It has, in fact, been adapted for the cinema fourteen times before my version. This may well be a reason that the film has struck a chord. Furthermore, I feel it has a universal element that people from different countries can relate to. The female protagonist belongs to a lower class, while Mongryong, the male protagonist, belongs to a noble family. Chunhyang shows strong resistance to authoritarian powers and is a very strong female role model and Mongryong returns from Seoul to enact revenge for her.