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(DIS)AGREEMENTS
BEYOND THE SPORADIC
SUCCESSES OF ASIAN FILMS:
THE CIRCULATION
OF KOREAN AND JAPANESE
CINEMA IN SPAIN
introduction
Antonio Loriguillo-López
discussion
Quim Crusellas
Menene Gras
Domingo López
José Luis Rebordinos
Ángel Sala
conclusion
Guillermo Martínez-Taberner
141
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Greeted by audiences and cultural critics alike
as the successors to traditional mass media as pro-
viders of audiovisual experiences, digital strea-
ming platforms constitute a compelling object of
interest. Their emergence as heirs to the home
audiovisual market has also been studied as a key
to understanding the manifest tension between
the “global” and the “local” in an increasingly di-
gitalised media context. The use of the internet
by the audiovisual industry as a distribution pla-
tform has resulted in a complex relationship be-
tween infrastructures and services that allow film
and television distributors and consumers to cast
a much wider net in both temporal and geogra-
phical terms. On the one hand, this situation of
quasi-simultaneity in the consumption of content
may resemble a utopian media scenario stripped
of all barriers to access, with none of the inhe-
rent boundaries or restrictions of space and time
thanks to universal access to content anywhere
and anytime (Iordanova, 2012). However, the lo-
gistical obstacles that can affect any region (from
bandwidth speed and coverage to content access
restrictions arising from licensing conflicts) pose
issues that remind us that this supposed ubiquity
is always dependent on contextual factors (Evans,
Coughlan & Coughlan, 2017).
The promises of access anytime from anywhe-
re that underpin the rhetoric of its promoters and
defenders thus need to be contrasted against the
irrefutable reality of what is actually available to
viewers and how they interact with it. In this way,
digital distribution of audiovisual content invites
us not only to reconsider the “global/local” binary
but also to analyse the significance of the condi-
tions for access and consumption that form part
introduction
ANTONIO LORIGUILLO-LÓPEZ
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(DIS)AGREEMENTS
of popular culture today (Tryon, 2013). This is the
case of processes like the participatory environ-
ments of so-called media convergence (Jenkins,
Ford & Green, 2013), new forms of consumption
like binge watching (Mikos, 2016) or recommen-
dations based on algorithms (Hallinan & Striphas,
2016). These are all contemporary examples of
how inseparable the audiovisual experience has
become for millennials and other demographic
segments that are increasingly considered impor-
tant as media targets.
The growing prominence on these platforms
of hugely popular genres like K-drama, Japane-
se doramas and anime (Hernández Hernández
& Hirai, 2015; Wada Marciano, 2010) should not
be allowed to obscure the sustained importance
that Japanese and South Korean films have enjo-
yed for some time now on the international fes-
tival circuit—both at festivals specialising in the
horror and fantasy genres (Brown, 2018; Tezuka,
2012) and in arthouse films (Ahn, 2012; Chung &
Diffrient, 2015). What is the role of film festivals
in this changing context? Academic research on
this question has focused mainly on the dissemi-
nation, reproduction and consumption of Japa-
nese and South Korean audiovisual production
in English-speaking and Intra-Asian contexts
(Chua & Iwabuchi, 2008; Iwabuchi 2004; Kim
2008, 2013, 2019), while their reception and im-
pact in the Spanish-speaking world has been lar-
gely overlooked. In an effort to shed some light on
these questions, in this edition of (Dis)Agreements
we turn to the festival directors, whose role we
believe to be decisive for the circulation of Japa-
nese and South Korean films in Spain. As obvious
authorities on the historical performance of the-
se films in our country, the participants—Quim
Crusellas and Domingo López (director and pro-
grammer, respectively, of the Asian Summer Film
Festival in Vic, Catalonia), Menene Gras (director
of the Asian Film Festival in Barcelona), José Luis
Rebordinos (director of the San Sebastián Interna-
tional Film Festival in Donostia, Basque Country)
and Ángel Sala (director of the Sitges Film Festi-
val)—share their experiences on the ins and outs
of Japanese and South Korean film distribution,
from the evolution (and multiplication) of their
audiences to the emergence of subscription vi-
deo-on-demand platforms, among other issues.
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discussion
1. Are there any predominant aesthetic, narrative and representative features in the contem-
porary Japanese and/or South Korean audiovisual productions screened at festivals (in the
Spanish-speaking world)? If so, to what extent do these features favour the transnational
consumption of this content? Or conversely, to what extent have these characteristics tra-
ditionally hindered their consumption in other geo-cultural contexts?
Quim Crusellas
I think that there are certain “patterns” or models
in the Asian films imported by festivals, cycles
and exhibitions. The massive range of Japanese
and Korean film production has a logical thema-
tic and stylistic diversity, often conditioned by its
platforms and channels of distribution. We thus
have everything from big-budget commercial pro-
ductions, with very Hollywood-esque intentions
and box office returns, to video products with
very small budgets but with considerable creative
and ideological freedom. But the best-known and
most recognised directors set the agenda for the
festivals when they plan their programming, so
there are high-quality films that conform to pa-
tterns that are totally acceptable to Western au-
diences, and even the most radical and innovative
directors, like Takashi Miike or Sion Sono, in the
case of Japan, or Kim Ki-duk, in the case of South
Korea, are obviously accessible. At festivals with
an auteur label they do seek out more inaccessi-
ble, more minimalist and ground-breaking titles,
but you find these on the general festival circuit
or in catalogues presented in film markets. This
means that a lot of the most interesting audiovi-
sual production gets relegated to local consump-
tion in the country of origin, where it already has
specific and generally very restricted distribution
channels. Everything is globalised and everything
is distributed by clearly identified groups, so that
we can find films ranging from the “Koreeda style”
to the Korean thriller—uncompromising, dyna-
mic, and violent, with extreme, very well-drawn
characters and an effective and masterful mi-
se-en-scène—or “upscale” anime films that can
make it into the top festivals, and everyday Ko-
rean dramas that remind us of more intimate Eu-
ropean cinema.
Menene Gras
Yes, formally you can identify typical aesthe-
tic and narrative features that are dominant in
the audiovisual productions that reach us from
Japan or Korea, just as there are in the films co-
ming from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Iran, for
example, is a particular case that meets very spe-
cific expectations: Iranian films, especially those
of the younger generations who only began wor-
king on feature films after making various shorts
with a visible, solid background, have a recognisa-
ble narrative structure, plotline and script. Howe-
ver, despite the numerous analogies that could
be made between the audiovisual productions of
Korea and Japan, the cultural difference is always
clear, so that you can easily recognise a film from
one country or the other, not only for the way
they compose a particular narrative, but also be-
cause the specific locations in each case are repre-
sentative of the actual places where the films are
set. Obviously, Japanese cinema has had a longer
and more sustained history, dating back to the Se-
cond World War, but Korean cinema has enjoyed
spectacular growth over a very short time. In less
than two decades, film production from this coun-
try has begun vying with Japanese cinema. It has
clearly distinguished itself despite the proximity
that seems to affect the two countries’ models,
if it’s possible to speak of narratives that share a
specific continuity in their treatment of the ima-
ge. The teachers of the generations of Japanese
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filmmakers who are finding success today are still
classic universal filmmakers like Kenji Mizoguchi,
Yasujir
ō
Ozu or Akira Kurosawa. These directors
left an indelible mark on their successors, to such
an extent that it has been said more than once
that Hirokazu Koreeda was the new Ozu, a des-
cription associated as well with filmmakers who
have made an impact at some festivals, like Naomi
Kawase, Takeshi Kitano, Kihachi Okamoto, Ma-
sahiro Shinoda or Tetsuya Nakashima, to mention
a few. Korean cinema, on the other hand, has been
going from strength to strength with filmmakers
like Lee Chang-dong, Shin-yeon Won, Kim Jee-
woon, Yeon Sang-ho, and Na Hong-jin, who have
been responsible for some of the biggest titles at
international festivals. So the transnational con-
sumption of content over the last three decades is
not easy to map, given that it has been very une-
ven, and therefore a more thoughtful approach
is needed to this question, considering these two
countries in a broader context, to be able to consi-
der it in all its complexity.
Domingo López
As is the case with all foreign film industries that
manage to make waves on festival circuits in the
West, Asian productions that break beyond their
own borders do so by taking their international
audience into account. Japanese directors are
quite frank in describing a certain style of film in
their country as “Cannes cinema”, referring to pic-
tures by directors like Hirokazu Koreeda or Naomi
Kawase, who receive much more attention in Eu-
rope (often with films co-produced by European
companies) than in their homeland. There are va-
rious targets in the promotion of Japanese cinema
in Europe (a phenomenon at the macro-level that
could easily be extrapolated to markets like Latin
America). On the one hand, there is a type of ci-
nema with exotic elements and social issues that
connects very well with a segment of the public
that is mostly female and of a certain age. On the
other is a style aimed at younger audiences that
adapts well-known manga stories, both in live
action and animated forms. In the case of Korea,
violent action films predominate, like what Hong
Kong cinema used to be known for. As happens
with many other film industries, whether Asian
or not, this gives a totally skewed and erroneous
image of what is being made in these countries,
where most production has nothing to do with
what is exported.
José Luis Rebordinos
I think that the Japanese and South Korean fil-
ms screened at festivals offer a wide variety of
forms, styles and themes; from the most radical
films, which try out new ways of telling a story,
to genre films, which are also selected widely by
major festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Venice or San
Sebastián.
Ángel Sala
I think the Japanese and South Korean films that
have been presented at festivals in the last few
years are widely varied, ranging from more inde-
pendent cinema to very commercial big-budget
productions. A certain directorial style has been
promoted through the recognition at these festi-
vals, very especially in the case of South Korea,
above all with Bong Joon-ho or Park Chan-wook,
which also reflects a similar view, especially wi-
thin South Korea. In Japan it is different. Whi-
le the talent of Takashi Miike or Sion Sono has
been widely recognised, domestically they are
not viewed the same way, perhaps because of
the type of film they tend to make. A consensus
has been established in relation to Koreeda and
some anime filmmakers, like Hayao Miyazaki, or
recently with Makoto Shinkai. The focus on the-
se filmmakers has boosted the interest of trans-
national viewers in Korean or Japanese cinema.
I think that without the success of Bong Joon-ho
or Koreeda, certain viewers would not venture to
explore more films from these countries. Howe-
ver, it is also true that the bubble that certain au-
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teurs create bursts quickly. Think of the success
in Spain of Kim Ki-duk—Spring, Summer, Fall,
Winter… and Spring (Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul
geurigo bom, 2003) or 3-Iron (Bin-jip, 2004)—or of
Shunji Iwai in France and how forgotten he is to-
day. You might say that the consumption of Asian
cinema in some countries is erratic; it still has big
historical gaps and moves sort of in waves or fads,
as demonstrated by the recent boom of Parasite
(Gisaengchung, Bong Joon-ho, 2019).
2. What expectations does a Spanish-speaking audience have of Japanese and South Korean
lms? In the disconnect between supply and demand, what contribution has been made by
these countries’ actions of cultural diplomacy, and more generally of public diplomacy (e.g.
the strategies of ofcial cultural promotion agencies, government subsidies for the audio-
visual industry or other programs to promote cultural industries)? What role do consumer
groups, audiovisual industries and national and transnational distribution circuits play? In
general, do these expectations arising from different sources operate as effective commer-
cial strategies at the transnational level?
Quim Crusellas
The audience grows with the cinema. And their
knowledge and preferences grow with the expan-
sion of possibilities for accessing that cinema. In
the case of Japan, TV anime, the Japanese ani-
mated series that found success in Spain in the
1970s, created a group of viewers who recognised
the narrative qualities, and especially the stylis-
tic qualities, of these products. Series like Marco,
3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (Haha o Tazune-
te Sanzen Ri, Isao Takahata, Fuji TV: 1976), Heidi,
Girl of the Alps (Alps no Sh
ō
jo Heidi, Isao Takaha-
ta, Fuji TV: 1974) or Mazinger Z (Tomoharu Katsu-
mata, Fuji TV: 1972-1974) were the precursors to
Dragon Ball (Daisuke Nishio and Minoru Okazaki,
Fuji TV: 1986-1989) and the whole manga and ani-
me phenomenon that came after them. And very
soon, types, genres, styles, etc., were established
within the anime movement. And today, anime
audiences and manga readers are expert consu-
mers of animation, knowledgeable and capable of
classifying many different spin-offs from a single
artistic source. In other genres, the progression
has been slower or later, but there are successful
cases, like J-Horror or Korean noir. Historically,
there have been the kaij
ū
(Japanese monster mo-
vies), chanbara (samurai cinema), ninjas, yakuza,
tokusatsu (Japanese special effects films) and the
wisdom of the classics, like Ozu, Mizoguchi or Ku-
rosawa. Identifying in some way with a genre, a
filmmaker or a fashion establishes some huge ex-
pectations every time a new project is released.
For the producers and distributors of these coun-
tries, the support of government departments
and the diplomatic corps is good news. It is a good
boost for promotion and prestige, in addition to
facilitating the release and distribution of their
films beyond the local market. And for the public
agencies involved it is an honour and an obliga-
tion to promote the culture and the film catalogue
of their countries. This makes for a convergence
of interests. And in this endeavour all the players
are important: the audience receiving a someti-
mes invisible film industry in search of a market,
and the distribution circuits with the possibility of
drumming up business on different fronts, from
pay-TV platforms eager to reach all kinds of cus-
tomers even in the most difficult niches, to the tra-
ditional channels for cinema, DVDs and Blu-rays,
with a much more restricted but loyal audience.
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Menene Gras
It cannot be denied that there is an interest in dis-
covering new film industries, but the consumption
of certain productions that seem to show signs of
a welcome reception is never guaranteed. The me-
chanisms in place to ensure a fluid distribution to
all the potential markets and audiences for Asian
cinema in the West, or for films made in the West
in Asia, are probably insufficient. This is true not
only for cinema, but also for literature and visual
arts, or for cultural production in general. Why isn’t
there more interaction in these fields, in a society
that shares the potential for speedy transmission of
media content and a global market? It may be that
the saturation resulting from the omnipresence of
screens in our lives is one of the factors behind the
resistant attitude that seems such a common reac-
tion to the new, to what comes from far away and
therefore affects us less. In any case, it’s not always
possible to speak of expectations met in relation to
the role played by public diplomacy on both sides,
if we accept that we can speak of parties on two
sides in this field where promotion is essential to
get a response from the audience that is suppo-
sed to consume the cultural product in question.
It is obvious that the efforts of the Japanese and
Korean governments have been decisive, both in
terms of film creation and production and in terms
of promotion. Japan is still the country that spends
the most after the United States on exporting its
culture, and the country that coordinates the most
assistance programs for audiovisual creation and
the promotion of its cultural production. Since the
Korean government was able to begin implemen-
ting these programs and funds for audiovisual pro-
duction, its success has been indisputable. In both
cases, institutions of public diplomacy like the Ja-
pan Foundation and the Korea Foundation have
also been important for supporting promotion,
whatever trajectory they have taken. In any cir-
cumstance, they have always constituted a major
reinforcement of the direct action taken by these
government agencies in their respective countries.
On the other hand, distributors have in turn con-
tributed considerably to boosting these film indus-
tries, demonstrating their interest both through
the sale of rights to European and North American
distributors and in the awards received by produc-
tions from Japan and Korea at the biggest interna-
tional festivals in the Western world.
Domingo López
In the end, it is the viewer who has the last word,
who decides whether a product is accepted or not,
regardless of the efforts made by diplomatic pro-
motion offices. At most, these offices manage to
create cycles for film libraries that often do little
more than baffle a viewer whose expectations are
not going to be met. If a Korean thriller fan is pre-
sented with the real hits of the year in South Ko-
rea, they will only be disappointed to find a bunch
of parochial comedies and dramas.
José Luis Rebordinos
Spanish-speaking audiences generally view Japa-
nese and South Korean films with the expectation
of something exotic, different, with a slower na-
rrative tempo, etc. However, the keener film-lo-
vers, who go to festivals like Sitges or San Se-
bastián, already understand the full complexity
and variety of the cinema from these countries.
I think that in the case of these two countries,
the importance of the work done by their official
promotion agencies is not as great as that done by
other countries like France or Chile. I think that
here what is more important is the positioning of
the audience itself and of the distribution com-
panies—consider, for example, the case of Your
Name (Kimi no na wa, Makoto Shinkai, 2016) and
Selecta Vision. Cultural diplomacy, with its focus,
also contributes to getting the films of its country
programmed more regularly.
Ángel Sala
I think there is a big historical problem with the
distribution of South Korean and Japanese audio-
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visual content for Spanish-speaking audiences.
Dubbing is impossible (it has proven ineffective)
and the need to screen the films with Spanish
subtitling, with the financial crisis and the decli-
ne of specialised circuits, is proving more difficult.
The crisis in viewer numbers and their ageing
(not only chronologically but culturally) is making
exhibitors and distributors look for independent
products and unusual film industries that appeal
to the tastes of these consumers. And that’s whe-
re we find a predominant taste that is somewhat
conformist and not really open to surprises or vi-
sual excesses, which radically filters out a lot of
films coming from Japan or South Korea in favour
of bourgeois comedies and inconsequential show-
cases, or an occasionally harmless US indie film.
And this explains why Koreeda, beyond the ques-
tion of quality, finds success with a style of storyli-
ne that appeals to this sector of viewers, or titles
like Sweet Bean (An, Naomi Kawase, 2015) and
even some of Hong Sang-soo’s films. You can see
that today nobody remembers Kitano, who was a
success in niche film circuits in the 1990s, perhaps
too violent and rough for these contemporary
audiences. And this isn’t helped by the lack of
risks being taken by distributors and exhibitors,
which are more concerned about not losing this
conformist audience than recovering a more open
audience or attracting a younger one. Moreover,
distributors specialising in Asian cinema have all
but disappeared, and the ones that remain operate
more for home video or platforms. In Spain, the
only ones still carrying the flame are Media3 for
more general films (and focusing more on re-re-
leases), La aventura and, above all, Selecta Vision
for anime, along with some historic distributors of
art-house, like Golem, with its relationship with
Koreeda. The official agencies of these countries,
like the Korean Film Council or the Japan Foun-
dation, have a good relationship with festivals,
but they could do more to support the promotion
of the product at these forums, as well as outside
the festivals through museums, film libraries and
other spaces, in addition to reminding us more ac-
tively of their country’s film history, an educatio-
nal task that has yet to be fully addressed.
3. The relatively recent success of some Japanese and South Korean lm offerings has gene-
rally been marginal in terms of box ofce returns in the Spanish-speaking world. However,
they continue to increase in numbers at these festivals. How can we explain this divergence
between what we could call their marginal presence in the “general market” and their suc-
cess in spaces of “specialised consumption”? Might this dynamic be due to the audience’s
tendency to identify Japanese and South Korean cinema with certain genres (action thriller,
horror) that traditionally fall outside mainstream tastes? Might the need for cultural referen-
ces or metanarratives complicate their enjoyment and recognition by a broader audience?
Quim Crusellas
The general market continues to be held hosta-
ge by the major studios. Most cinemas are still
tied to contracts with big distributors, which are
the ones that have the most promotional chan-
nels and outlets. The audience is an American
mainstream movie audience. Asian cinema, and
in this case Japanese and Korean films, have a
very small but loyal audience. The festivals have
become the alternative to this mainstream cir-
cuit. They’re like little specialist shops compared
to the huge department store filled with familiar
brands and a sensation of product “cloning”. Even
so, Japanese and Korean films, with successes
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like Your Name, Sweet Bean, or more recently,
Parasite, have managed to make inroads thanks
to some valiant independent distributors. Asian
cinema followers deconstruct the assimilation of
Asian titles with certain mainstream genres. The
horror genre in Japan is not really the same as it
is in the United States, and comedy or detective
films certainly are not. There is a certain type of
viewer who is more specific about the genre or
topic: it isn’t just a thriller, but a Korean thriller. It
isn’t just a “horror movie” but a “Japanese horror
movie”. And adding the demonym to these genres
turns them into something much more specific
and identifiable. For decades we have been used
to seeing American cinema and it is comfortable
for us as viewers when we watch Hollywood mo-
vies. But the diversity that we are fortunate to be
offered by festivals, new broadcasting platforms,
etc., has led to new cultural connections, habits
and even ways of telling a story that are beco-
ming increasingly accepted. The exotic is not re-
jected any more; instead it has become something
intriguing and attractive. Asian cinema conti-
nues to be an escape for more curious viewers,
but it is opening up more and more to a broader
public outside the conventional patterns of film
distribution.
Menene Gras
What happens at film festivals doesn’t have much
to do with the products that find commercial suc-
cess in this sector. However, there are exceptions
like Parasite, to give a current example, directed
by the Korean Bong Joon-ho, which is breaking
box-office records in Europe after taking the Pal-
me d’Or at the Cannes Festival. South Korean and
Japanese cinema is not always identified with
the horror or the action thriller genre. It might
seem that way if we think of the audiences that
attend a fantasy film festival like Sitges, where a
third of the programming is Asian genre cinema.
Films like Intimate Strangers (Wanbyeokhan tain,
Lee Jae-kyoo, 2018), for example, would probably
never make it into our theatres, although we did
select it for the Asian Film Festival in Barcelo-
na (AFAA). In fact, despite the efforts of certain
European distributors to introduce different na-
tional film industries to the market, a lot of films
commonly only get screened at festivals, regard-
less of the interest they arouse or the awards they
win. We are a very long way from achieving an
exchange of productions between Europe and
the United States and the Asian continent. At last
year’s AFAA (2019), we featured 133 films and 25
shorts from 23 different countries: Afghanistan,
Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China,
Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran,
Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Laos, Macao, Malay-
sia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand,
Taiwan (China), and Vietnam. All the productions
were originally released in 2018 or 2019, except
for one in 2017. Of all the countries represented,
some attracted attention because their films are
already well-known, and a significant contribu-
tion was expected from them in terms of what
the new generations are producing right now. In
countries like Afghanistan or Kazakhstan, there
is considerable curiosity about what is happening
in the sector, as there is about the stories being
told in some countries of southeast Asia, like
Singapore or Indonesia, where the film industry
is growing exponentially, especially in the latter
case. There is still a lot to be done, however, to bri-
dge the distances between countries and cultures
that still know so little about each other.
Domingo López
Genre films (whether horror films or thrillers)
have always formed part of the mainstream, but
Asian cinema has always been part of a separate
niche of fans, like manga or opera lovers. It has
never become part of general mainstream cinema
(with the exception of a few isolated successes)
and it is unlikely that it ever will be. Most audien-
ces are used to the narrative codes of Hollywood
and anything that doesn’t conform to that model
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(DIS)AGREEMENTS
seems strange and needs the stories concerned to
pass through the filter of a remake. Beyond the
festivals and conventions, there is more access
now than ever to Asian cinema via platforms like
Amazon Prime or Netflix, which include hun-
dreds of titles from all over Asia in their catalogue
for consumption by the Asian population living
outside their home countries. However, most of
these titles are unknown even to Asian cinema
fans, because they haven’t been filtered for their
tastes and they end up tired of watching things
that don’t fit with the idea they had of what Ko-
rean cinema was, for example.
José Luis Rebordinos
What happens in Spain to the films from these
two countries is not so different from what ha-
ppens to films coming from Latin America, or
even from other European countries. Any films
that don’t come with the support of the huge pro-
motional machinery of the US film industry have
a hard time at the box office. And it has nothing
to do with the identification with a genre; on the
contrary, genre films are popular and commercial,
so if that were the case, they should attract a lar-
ge number of viewers. Every film that is released
ends up being marginal unless it is from the Uni-
ted States, except for the odd isolated case. Some-
times there are pleasant surprises, like the big box
office success all over the world, including Spain,
of Parasite.
Ángel Sala
Festival audiences are looking for something
different, to escape the wasteland that the film
theatre has turned into. Asian genre films find
success at niche festivals through a tradition
that was born in the 1990s with the impact of
J-Horror or the new Korean fantasy or action
genre and that continues into our times in the
form of following certain filmmakers or trends,
and seeking out new innovations. But they are
also successful at generalist festivals and not just
with genre films, although the division between
genres is blurrier in Asian cinema. Parasite is a
comedy, drama, horror and suspense, as was The
Handmaiden (Agassi, Park Chan-wook, 2016),
which was an extraordinary blend of genres.
Today, horror and science fiction dominate the
tastes of mainstream viewers. There’s no need
to look further than the box office, but based on
an American template, at the level of both the
blockbuster and the indie film. Perhaps in some
filmmakers it is possible to see the influence of
Asian cinema on the mainstream, such as in the
work of Christopher Nolan, Mike Flanagan or
the odd indie director like Oz Perkins, but the
Asian stylistic models are viewed today as be-
longing very much to a niche. I don’t think this
adversely affects the perception of films from
these counties in general, as although there are
viewers who identify Japanese or Korean cine-
ma with “violence” or “weirdness”, the success of
Koreeda, Kawase or Hong Song Soo give it a re-
putation for sensitivity and detail, as well as high
quality. The idea of Japanese or Korean genre fil-
ms comes from the cult film (sometimes with a
massive following), from the festivals, and now
from streaming platforms, now that direct home
video has practically disappeared.
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4. To what extent has the internet transformed the impact of niche festivals? In this context,
do you believe that the festival brand benets more from its role as a content inuencer for
niche audiences, or that instead it should be identied with the expansion of new horizons
through new lm industries?
Quim Crusellas
The internet is what the local movie theatre was
in the 1980s. The most unexpected films are the-
re, and some of them are copies of dubious origin.
And this “guiding” enthusiast hooked into the “to-
rrent” is also a festival fan. Instead of an illegal
way of watching a film with no distribution in our
country, it has turned into a place to explore and
discover titles. And the fact that online platforms
have become popular throughout the population
is thanks to this launching pad. Personally, I think
the internet is an excellent support for festivals like
ours. It’s a display window that informs, nourishes
and spreads our work; and through digital media
and forums from different countries we discover
titles in pre-production and advances, and we find
out about other festivals, film industries, etc. It is
the movie house of the twenty-first century.
Menene Gras
The internet has contributed, paradoxically, to
the dissemination of film industries that were
previously out of reach, with ease of access to
some productions thanks to platforms like Netflix
or Filmin, or due to widespread piracy, in the case
of films that are uploaded to the internet illega-
lly. However, it is also true that this dissemination
has occurred to the detriment of film theatres,
where audiences used to share the experience of
watching a picture. This has been largely lost, yet
cinema continues to serve an irreplaceable func-
tion. In this sense, the role of festivals responds
to initiatives launched in the sector to show fil-
ms that don’t tend to make it to the commercial
screens, as they are projects that make their par-
ticular proposal, which the distributors try to ex-
ploit, although not always successfully. Conse-
quently, it is impossible to guarantee that festivals
will not turn into niche events or become content
influencers for niche audiences. The expansion
of horizons is also still related to the inclusion
of new geographies in the context of everything
that comes out of the cultural turn in geography,
to the extent that it is not only a geographic ex-
pansion of the regions where films come from,
but a proposal that allows the audience to explore
film industries and narratives which, in principle,
are unknown to them or not as familiar as is so-
metimes assumed.
Domingo López
Film festivals function as events where thou-
sands of fans come together to share a passion,
expecting certain identifying features in the pro-
gramming that will ensure that they can repeat
the kinds of moments they have enjoyed in the
past. The festival thus functions in both ways,
offering viewers what they expect to see, while at
the same time they discover directors and styles
that may fit with their tastes, always within the
festival’s parameters.
José Luis Rebordinos
The internet has changed everything. The im-
mediacy it offers allows users to share opinions
and reviews in real time. But it also complicates
the ability to distinguish between stakeholders
and non-stakeholders. We have access to more
information than ever, but it’s impossible for us
to analyse it in depth. That’s why influencers are
more important than ever. And festivals are in-
creasingly occupying that space. And yes, festi-
vals are a good place to access new categories of
films, either in terms of their place of origin or in
terms of their formal, aesthetic or narrative qua-
lities.
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Ángel Sala
Platforms, both general and niche, and festivals
are bound to go hand in hand, based on content
influencing (which is already very difficult throu-
gh the promotional press or critics) or promotion.
But the activity of a festival shouldn’t stop the-
re, as it is essential for it to be researching new
markets, emerging film industries and young ta-
lent, as well as audiovisual archaeology through
recovering titles that were lost, poorly distributed
or worthy of another look, and the restoration of
indisputable classics.
5. To what extent do specialised festivals have a responsibility to know about lm industries
outside the hegemony of English-language production? How can they give visibility to lm
traditions eclipsed by historiography (taking advantage of the interest in certain genres, ba-
sed on commercial successes that don’t get exported, expanding the range of genres, ex-
ploring new languages)? And, most importantly, do “peripheral lm industries” constitute a
source for renewing the language of contemporary cinema, contributing to cultural hybridi-
sation, or alternatively, are they merely exotic contributions to the Western view of cinema?
Quim Crusellas
In our case, this hybridisation is essential. We are
not just a movie theatre. We like to show the cul-
tural, historical and ethnographic dimension of
the films. In Vic there is a large Asian community
that participates actively in our festival. They pre-
pare meals from the countries of origin of each
film, there are performances and exhibitions of
dance and martial arts before each screening, and
at some of them, like the ones dedicated to the Bo-
llywood film industry, we offer a natural recrea-
tion of an Indian film screening, with people sin-
ging and dancing songs during the film, getting up
and whistling when the leading man or women
appears, etc. It is essential and exciting to imbue
the film with what it has in its suitcase: its origin
and complementary dimensions. This turns it into
a unique experience, distinct from a conventional
show in a Western film theatre.
Menene Gras
That responsibility is taken on in most offerings
made at festivals insofar as their resources allow.
Obviously, there is an interest in expanding the
geographical range of the productions selected for
screening at most festivals, because you always
want to be presenting something that is not acces-
sible or has been successful in other parts of the
world. It is equally true that festivals don’t always
manage to give visibility to film traditions eclipsed
by the hegemony of the English-speaking tradi-
tion or the dominance of Eurocentrism over other
cultures. But this is not the case only in cinema,
as it exists in any area of audiovisual culture and
culture in general. The never-ending debate over
the Eurocentric positions that are sometimes re-
pressed but nevertheless still present does not
end when you think you’ve adopted measures to
address it, despite their explicitness. There is a lot
of talk of Eurocentrism without acknowledging
that it comes into play almost unconsciously in a
lot of cases. The result of its stagnation is the ab-
sence of other worlds that are also our world for
our particular radars. This situation exposes the
damage that this focus has caused and how hard
it is to correct its impact. On the other hand, peri-
pheral film industries make an important contri-
bution to the renewal of the language of contem-
porary cinema, both for the cultural difference
they reveal and for the stories they tell. Without
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(DIS)AGREEMENTS
doubt, despite contributing in some cases to the
maintenance of the exotic nature of their origins
(as, for example, is the case of Afghani cinema,
where audiences expect to obtain information re-
lated to everyday life, both urban and rural, in a
country about which they know very little), most
film industries that the West considers “periphe-
ral” in Eurocentric terms obviously take part in
the cultural hybridisation resulting from contact,
which is inevitably associated with the contem-
porary diasporas and other phenomena that have
established a need to know the Other. It is clear
that this has favoured the renewal of languages
and narratives, and it has also had an impact on
the perception of those others that we cannot go
on ignoring. Cinema is one of the best ways for us
to get closer to one another.
Domingo López
It is clear that all international cinema, and espe-
cially Asian cinema, has had a huge influence on
Western cinematic traditions, especially among
genre films. We try to carry out the work of ci-
nematic archaeology through cycles like the ones
we have organised dedicated to Panna Rittikrai,
to kaij
ū
eiga, to tokusatsu or to Stephen Chow. We
can’t fight against the commercial sameness im-
posed by Hollywood, but we can show spectators
that there is much more beyond the mainstream,
and leave it up to them to explore it, after giving
them a little taste. Insofar as Japanese cinema is
concerned, comedy is one of the genres that has
never made the leap into the West (again, with
the odd exception of award-winning titles) and at
the festival we try to give visibility to titles that
are very well accepted by our audience, both indie
works and more commercial fare.
José Luis Rebordinos
As festivals we have the responsibility to give a
voice to different films that don’t merely reprodu-
ce the same old features of the dominant film tra-
dition. Peripheral film industries often represent
an opportunity to gain access to other ways of
seeing. They are usually in countries undergoing
economic, political and social transformation,
which make films with less money, but someti-
mes with much more freedom (this is not the case
of Japan or South Korea, but it would be of India,
Peru or Bolivia). But increasingly, the periphery
is getting closer to the centre; the global world is
making distances much shorter, but it also tends
towards cultural hegemonisation. In any case,
what we need to do is get away from the exotic
view of emerging film industries...
Ángel Sala
Peripheral film industries are being incorporated
into the world of audiovisual culture as a base
for information on trends and talent. Latin Ame-
rica, Asia and Eastern Europe are all on the rise
in this sense, although Hollywood’s synergy and
sympathetic relationship with talent agencies has
many filmmakers very quickly seduced into the
US theatre of operations, which itself is increasin-
gly global and diverse and is being enriched (and
should be enriched more) by these peripheral film
industries. In the last few years, commercial films
and Oscar winners have been directed by film-
makers outside Hollywood that have more or less
adapted to the system, like Ang Lee, Guillermo del
Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, or Iñarrritu. A few decades
ago, it was unthinkable that a film like Roma (Al-
fonso Cuarón, 2018) would be nominated for best
film given its country of origin and its off-theatri-
cal release (Netflix). Yet Cuarón won the award
for best director. Hollywood is changing little by
little and this has been influenced by many fac-
tors, including those peripheral film industries.
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6. There are suggestions that the new subscription video on demand (SVoD) platforms are
making mass audiences more active and demanding, both in relation to content and to its
reception. How does this affect the programming and development of a specialised festival?
Are we really witnessing a paradigm shift in the status of the spectator, even in the case of
the less specialised viewer?
Quim Crusellas
In our case, VoD is a double-edged sword. On the
one hand, it helps so much to promote titles that
are not easily accessible to the general public and
offers them the possibility of enjoying a different
type of film. There is very little distribution of the-
se kinds of films on VoD platforms, but there are
also social network channels (Twitter and Face-
book) that give them visibility. On the other hand,
the purchase of recently completed titles released
via platforms conditions the programming. Some
titles are dropped in the middle of negotiations
because they get purchased by Netflix or another
platform. But it is always important to find a mi-
ddle ground, a collateral support, and that’s what
we have done with Movistar. Through this plat-
form, we have access to some very powerful titles
and we can offer a joint première at the festival
and on the platform, publicising it on both sides
and giving lovers of Asian cinema the chance to
see the same film at home and on the big screen
at the festival.
Menene Gras
It is no longer possible to talk of an audience, as
there are now audiences, which are generally not
homogeneous. It is therefore difficult to define an
audience and a trend without considering the mix
of genres and the evolution of responses in real
time. I don’t know whether we are witnessing
a paradigm shift in relation to the status of the
spectator: viewers always change from one gene-
ration to the next, but they will always be the re-
cipient that the message in any film production is
aimed at. Certainly, we hope for bigger participa-
tion and communication from them, and to reach
them through common issues which, in the end,
are universal in any society and era that might
be explored. For decades now, everyday life has
been one of the subjects of most narratives to the
detriment of so-called historical cinema, which
has been largely relegated to the documentary
genre. I also don’t know whether viewers are
becoming increasingly demanding or more apa-
thetic, although they have better access to films,
more viewing possibilities and options and are
apparently better informed. There are audiences
that are interested in one type of cinema—whe-
ther it be fantasy or horror, drama or comedy—
and others who prefer films that don’t explore
issues or make them think about lives other than
their own, or another reality that could make
them feel empathy for what is happening on the
screen. It is clear that people watch a lot of fil-
ms and read very little. The moving image has a
power over the spectator that no other medium
has experienced to date. Cinema has been able to
take over, because it is the medium of mass com-
munication par excellence, whatever its national
origin may be.
Domingo López
As I mentioned before, viewers on VoD platfor-
ms wind up lost and overwhelmed with such
a wide range of options, and again they need a
programmer to select and filter through the hun-
dreds of titles. At the professional level it affects
us a lot, because platforms like Netflix acquire
most of the important titles even before they’re
finished, for global distribution, making the role
of programmers more complex. However, I feel
increasingly happy with this, as it makes pro-
grammers go beyond the catalogue covers and
allows them to do their work from scratch, dis-
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covering jewels and directors that will be impor-
tant in the cinema of tomorrow.
José Luis Rebordinos
I don’t think it is the platforms that are making
the audience more demanding. In our case, we’ve
had a very demanding audience for many years,
before the platforms began impacting on cinema.
What the platforms and, especially, new elec-
tronic devices are making possible is better and
more continuous public access to audiovisual
content, and therefore, better knowledge of that
content.
Ángel Sala
The spectator at festivals today is very deman-
ding, knowledgeable and with a level of influence
that only critics had before. This is very extreme
at festivals specialising in a genre, like Sitges. You
can’t pull the wool over anyone’s eyes when pro-
gramming or selecting films; you have to explain
your decisions. There has to be a festival line. It
doesn’t have to be literally “approved” by the pu-
blic. But it should meet expectations in relation
to how the films are presented, beyond whether
they like them or not. These days the audience
creates trends, much more than critics do.
7. What perception do specialised festivals have of the work of critics who attend them? The-
re is a widespread cliché that the critic is not necessary. Does their role gain strength in a
context of minimal media coverage and limited academic publications?
Quim Crusellas
In our case, the critic and the specialist journalist
are very necessary. Films from big distributors
and big festivals have their own media megapho-
ne, but we need the media dedicated to Asian ci-
nema, their blogs, their fan spirit, as reflected in
following and constantly disseminating informa-
tion on Twitter, etc. The big community of Asian
cinema enthusiasts feeds off those channels,
where they generate followers, and therefore, an
audience and an industry.
Menene Gras
The critic’s role is, among other things, to witness
an event. Even if it is only to make people aware of
it, it is indispensable, although their opinion may
be debatable and is often not helpful for the sale
of projection rights or for the audience to consu-
me a particular product. I don’t know whether it is
such a widespread cliché as the question seems to
assume, but whether the critic is necessary or not
is perhaps not the right question. Ordinarily, the
role of the critic and that of academic publications
are quite separate, although that is not to say that
the immediacy of certain publications covering
daily events cannot contain more elaborate dis-
courses like those that publications promoting
academic studies by film historians and resear-
chers are supposed to have. It is obvious that the
critic’s role gains strength to the extent that it can
boost or sink a particular title and their opinion
can be based on many aspects, which may in turn
be rejected by other critics, despite the fact that
agreement is more common than radical disparity
between one critic and another. Criticism should
occasionally be more disinterested and less parti-
san, but in both criticism and academic research
in this field, when dealing with the film industries
of a global society like the one we live in, there
should be a sharing of interests and objectives.
Domingo López
Critics give visibility to the content of the festi-
vals, although often they don’t have the back-
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ground necessary to judge a lot of Asian content,
and most of the time they limit themselves to con-
textualising the film they have just seen with the
few titles that have been distributed here, perpe-
tuating clichés and stereotypes, conveying erro-
neous ideas, such as that most Korean films are
violent thrillers or that in India all the films are
musicals.
José Luis Rebordinos
The critic is very important. They are another ne-
cessary influencer. The problem is that these days
there are very few serious critics. Most of them
are film lovers, expressing urgent opinions, often
about the title credits of the films without going
further. There is a lot of headline and very little
thoughtful analysis. Moreover, the democratisa-
tion brought by social networks means that there
are thousands of people expressing opinions and
that the audience has a hard task separating the
interesting from the trivial.
Ángel Sala
The critic is experiencing a crisis produced by the
weakening of the cultural dimensions of the me-
dia, based on the precarious condition of the me-
dia and the lack of a clear method. The festivals
have changed; they’ve developed in many direc-
tions, and critics, or some of them, continue appl-
ying the same old criteria and trying to survive
by means of an old and outdated analysis. There
are many critics, not just the traditional ones but
also new ones, who come out very much against
the activity or the model of festivals, but in many
cases the critics are unaware of their operational
mechanisms or funding, which have changed,
and a lot. But critics have not bothered to inves-
tigate and are holding onto a theoretical vision
that has nothing to with the pragmatic reality.
Moreover, traditional critics haven’t been able to
keep up with the pace of evolution of the enligh-
tened opinion of enthusiasts and spectators on
social networks or online, and, little by little, they
have been displaced in the analysis of the impact
of events and the creation of trends. Criticism is
necessary, vital; it is a pillar of the festivals, but
it needs to be restructured internally, to undergo
a reorganisation and engage in dialogue with the
festivals for a new model. This is urgently needed.
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When you have the privilege of bringing toge-
ther a chorus of specialist voices to discuss a topic
as multifaceted as the transnational circulation
of Korean and Japanese cinema, it is logical and
expected, and even to a certain extent intentio-
nally sought after, that there would be certain
dissonances in the opinions expressed. But the
answers provided by this group of festival direc-
tors based on their vast experience converges in
the explanations they give that nuance certain
“clichés”, enhancing our knowledge and contri-
buting to our understanding of the circulation of
Korean and Japanese cinema in Spain, which was
the ultimate aim of this section.
In this sense, for example, while there has been
some consensus expressed about the existence of
aesthetic and narrative patterns characteristic of
the film production of these two countries, the
responses have underscored the richness and
variety of their audiovisual production in terms
of genre, themes, budget, quality, international
impact, etc. This richness leads to categorisations
that go beyond the already well-known use of de-
monyms like “Japanese horror films” to include
a particular movement in Japanese cinema clas-
sified as “Cannes cinema”, an obvious allusion to
films produced specifically with interaction with
the European industry and viewer in mind, as Do-
mingo López explains.
A second “cliché” that the conversation here
exposes is the idea of “peripheral film industries”.
Beyond the Eurocentric and Orientalist narrati-
ves, the constant contribution of East Asian ci-
nema to the transnational film industry seems
obvious, calling into question the idea of “periphe-
ral” as something distant from a centre of con-
tent production and identifying it, as Ángel Sala
explains, as a “film industry incorporated into the
world of audiovisual culture as a base for informa-
tion on trends and talent.” In this same sense, the
discussion here highlights the influence of Asian
cinema on Western film production, especially on
genre films, making it a key source of influences,
trends, genres, talent, etc., that hardly fits in a de-
finition of “peripheral cinema”.
To understand the success of Korean and Ja-
panese cinema, two basic variables are normally
invoked: the quality of the product and its capa-
city for positioning in international markets. All
the experts consulted here agree in describing the
production of these two countries generally as
being made up of quality films that have been in-
ternationalised with the support of their cultural
industries, as well as their international promo-
tion agencies, although these efforts to promote
the film industry are not comparable to the huge
promotional machinery of the American film in-
dustry, which in many cases determines box office
success, as José Luís Rebordinos explains. Howe-
conclusion
GUILLERMO MARTÍNEZ-TABERNER
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(DIS)AGREEMENTS
ver, all our participants stress that the cornersto-
ne of the increasing circulation of Asian content
in Spain is not the mechanisms and stakeholders
in the global market, but the viewers. One of the
most reliable pieces of evidence of this would be
how the consumption patterns of millennials
have contributed to the rise of Japanese and Ko-
rean audiovisual content available in Spain on the
main digital streaming platforms. This is an au-
dience which, as Quim Crusellas explains, is in-
creasingly knowledgeable and mature in terms of
its preferences.
The disruptive force of technology for audiovisual
content distribution, the new generations of Eu-
ropean viewers, and the variety of Japanese and
Korean films, among many other factors, make it
difficult to map out the transnational consumption
of the films of these two countries, as pointed out
by Menene Gras. But at the same time, this situa-
tion has sparked academic interest in tackling the
challenge of connecting all these global and local
forces into a complex narrative that will help make
sense of the phenomenon of the circulation of Ja-
panese and Korean cinema in Spain over the last
few decades, possible future trends, and the capaci-
ty for transformation of local cultural industries.
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MÁS ALLÁ DE LOS ÉXITOS PUNTUALES DEL
CINE ASIÁTICO: LA CIRCULACIÓN DEL CINE
COREANO Y JAPONÉS EN ESPAÑA
Resumen
Siguiendo con la indagación del monográfico sobre la poro-
sidad de nuestro audiovisual con respecto a su contraparte
japonesa y surcoreana, en la sección de (Des)encuentros con-
gregamos a los responsables de los festivales más relevantes
para la circulación de estos cines dentro del territorio español
para monitorizar la situación desde su papel como puerta de
entrada de dichas cinematografías. Quim Crusellas y Domin-
go López (director y programador, respectivamente, del Festi-
val Nits Cinema Oriental de Vic), Menene Gras (directora del
Asian Film Festival de Barcelona), José Luis Rebordinos (di-
rector del Donostiako Nazioarteko Zinemaldia de Donostia)
y Ángel Sala (director del Festival Internacional de Cinema
Fantàstic de Catalunya de Sitges) responden a las cuestiones
planteadas por Guillermo Martínez Taberner y Antonio Lori-
guillo-López sobre facetas de la circulación de estas películas
tan dispares como la evolución del público español o la irrup-
ción de las plataformas de video on-demand.
Palabras clave
Festivales de cine; San Sebastián; Sitges; Nits Cinema Orien-
tal; Asian Film Festival; Cine japonés; Cine surcoreano.
Autores
Quim Crusellas es el director del Festival Nits Cinema Orien-
tal de Vic. Contacto: nits@cinemaoriental.com.
Domingo López es el programador del Festival Nits Cinema
Oriental de Vic. Contacto: programmer@cinemaoriental.com.
Menene Gras es la directora del Asian Film Festival de Barce-
lona. También dirige el departamento de cultura y exposicio-
nes de Casa Asia (Barcelona). Contacto: mgras@casaasia.es.
José Luis Rebordinos es el director del Donostiako Nazioar-
teko Zinemaldia de Donostia. Contacto: direccion@sansebas-
tianfestival.com.
Ángel Sala es el director del Festival Internacional de Cinema
Fantàstic de Catalunya de Sitges. Contacto: info@sitgesfilm-
festival.com.
Guillermo Martínez-Taberner es profesor asociado del De-
partamento de Humanidades de laUniversitat Pompeu Fabra
desde 2009 yresponsable del Departamento de Economía y
BEYOND THE SPORADIC SUCCESS OF ASIAN
CINEMA: THE CIRCULATION OF KOREAN AND
JAPANESE CINEMA IN SPAIN
Abstract
Continuing with the investigation of the monographic about
the porosity of our audiovisual regarding its Japanese and
South Korean counterpart, in the section of (Dis)agreements
we congregate the people in charge of the most relevant fes-
tivals for the circulation of these cinemas inside the Spanish
territory to monitor the situation from their role as gatekee-
pers of these cinematographies. Quim Crusellas and Domin-
go López (director and programmer, respectively, of the Fes-
tival Nits Cinema Oriental de Vic), Menene Gras (director of
the Asian Film Festival of Barcelona), José Luis Rebordinos
(director of the Donostiako Nazioarteko Zinemaldia in Do-
nostia) and Ángel Sala (director of the Sitges Film Festival)
answer to the questions posed by Guillermo Martínez Taber-
ner and Antonio Loriguillo-López on facets of the circulation
of these films, the evolution of the Spanish audiences, or the
irruption of video on-demand platforms.
Key words
Film festivals; San Sebastian; Sitges; Nits Cinema Oriental;
Asian Film Festival; Japanese cinema; South Korean cinema.
Authors
Quim Crusellas is the director of the Festival Nits Cinema
Oriental de Vic. Contact: nits@cinemaoriental.com
Domingo López is the programmer of the Festival Nits Cine-
ma Oriental de Vic. Contact: programmer@cinemaoriental.
com
Menene Gras is the director of the Asian Film Festival in Bar-
celona. She also directs the culture and exhibitions depart-
ment of Casa Asia (Barcelona). Contact: mgras@casaasia.es
José Luis Rebordinos is the director of the Donostiako Na-
zioarteko Zinemaldia in Donostia. Contact: direccion@sanse-
bastianfestival.com
Ángel Sala is the director of the Sitges Film Festival. Contact:
info@sitgesfilmfestival.com
Guillermo Martínez-Taberner is adjunct professor in the De-
partment of Humanities at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra
since 2009 and coordinator of the Economic and Business
Department of Casa Asia since 2007. He obtained his PhD
161
L’ATALANTE 29 january - june 2020
(DIS)AGREEMENTS
Empresa de Casa Asiadesde 2007.Doctor en Historia yMás-
teren Historia del Mundo porla Universitat Pompeu Fabra,
es también Licenciado en Estudios de Asia Oriental por la
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona y Licenciado en Historia
por la Universitat deValència. Ha completado sus estudios
con estancias anuales de formación einvestigación en la Uni-
versità Ca’Foscari di Venezia (2001-2002), en la Tokyo Uni-
versity of Foreign Studies (2005-2006), en la School of Orien-
tal and African Studiesde la University of London (2011) y en
la Beijing Foreign Studies University (2016).De sus publica-
ciones comoautor o coautor destacan Comunicación y poder
en Asia oriental (EdiUOC, 2017), ElJapón Meiji y las colonias
asiáticas del imperio español (Ed. Bellaterra, 2017), El manga
y la animación japonesa (EdiUOC, 2015), eHistoria de Japón.
Economía,Sociedad y Política(EdiUOC, 2012). Contacto: gui-
llermo.martinez@upf.edu.
Antonio Loriguillo-López es personal investigador postdocto-
ral en la Universitat Jaume I. Doctor en Ciencias de la Comu-
nicación, sus líneas de investigación se centran en el estudio
de la narración en el cine y en la ficción televisiva comercia-
les, con especial atención a la animación japonesa contem-
poránea. Es autor y coautor de varios artículos científicos en
revistas de revisión por pares, de varios capítulos de libro y de
diversas comunicaciones en congresos científicos de carácter
internacional. Contacto: loriguil@uji.es.
Referencia de este artículo
Crusellas, Q., Gras, M., López, D., Loriguillo-López, A., Mar-
tínez-Taberner, G., Rebordinos, J. L., Sala, Á. (2020). Más allá
de los éxitos puntuales del cine asiático: la circulación del cine
coreano y japonés en España. L’Atalante. Revista de estudios ci-
nematográficos, 29, 153-162.
in History and his MA in World History from Universitat
Pompeu Fabra . He received his BA in East Asian Studies
from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and his BA in
Contemporary History from the Universitat deValència. He
has been visiting researcher at Università Ca'Forscari di Ve-
nezia (2001-2002), Venice International University (2002),
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (2005-2006), the School
of Oriental and African Studies of the University of Lon-
don (2011) and the Beijing Foreign Studies University (2016).
Among his publications he is author or co-author of: Comu-
nicación y poder en Asia oriental (EdiUOC, 2017), El Japón Meiji
y las colonias asiáticas del imperio español (Ed. Bellaterra, 2017),
El manga y la animación japonesa (EdiUOC, 2015), Historia de
Japón. Economía, Sociedad y Política (EdiUOC, 2012). Contact:
guillermo.martinez@upf.edu.
Antonio Loriguillo-López is currently a post-doctoral fellow
at the Communication Sciences Department at Universitat
Jaume I. Ph.D in Communication Sciences by Universitat
Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana (Spain). His research interests
are focused on the crossroads between Japanese contem-
porary animation and complex narration. He is the author
and co-author of several scientific articles, book chapters
and contributions to international conferences. Contact: lo-
riguil@uji.es.
Article reference
Crusellas, Q., Gras, M., López, D., Loriguillo-López, A., Mar-
tínez-Taberner, G., Rebordinos, J. L., Sala, Á. (2020). Beyond
the Unusual Success of Asian Cinema: The Circulation of
Korean and Japanese Cinema in Spain. L’Atalante. Revista de
estudios cinematográficos, 29, 153-162.
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