Korean Film Archive

Section 1

The Birth of Movies

We examine the time when the Lumiere brothers in France, Edison in the United States, the Skladanowsky brothers in Germany, etc. invented and screened movies before the birth of Korean movies and the period when movies were born in each country.

Section 2

Motion Pictures Arrive in Joseon: The Beginning of a Unique Experience

Here is a description of the route through which motion pictures first flowed into Joseon with the American traveler Burton Holmes, who showed a movie he had shot to King Gojong, which was then shown to the public. These images from the early 1890s show what the society was like and how people lived during that time.