Paper short abstract:

This article explores the relationship between globalization and Japanese and South Korean nation-state policies, charting their interplay and providing implications for global trends in film industries.

Paper long abstract:

International film co-production in Japan and Korea, which is the central object of engagement of East Asian film history in the wake of globalization since the 2000s, is policy-driven and at the same time it is intertwined with media globalization in the competitive circumambience. Cultural policy theory and discourse cannot be understood without recourse to the discourse around the industry situation. Therefore, to probe into international film co-production and its related cultural policy in East Asia, this article is composed of two major analyses; 1) on the news articles contain the term international film co-production in Japan and South Korea; 2) how much the agenda of the cultural policy has influenced filmmakers in Japan and Korea to practice international film co-production. Contrary to other welfare policies, the agents of cultural policy have been diversified (Bazin & Malet, 2005) and should include both the governments and the industrial agents who produce cultural products. This article explores the relationship between globalization and Japanese and South Korean nation-state policies, charting their interplay and providing implications for global trends in film industries. In particular, it probes into the practices of agents who has implemented the policy of international film co-production in the region. As a methodology of this study, I survey the agents of cultural industries in Japan and Korea and find out how the agenda of cultural policies has influenced on their practice of international film co-production.