Subway Cinema’s Goran Topalovic wins Korean Cinema Award at Busan 2022

A long, long time ago – in the year 1999, to be exact – five rabid film fans decided to create Subway Cinema in New York.  Although not so long ago as far as the years were concerned, this was an eternity times 10 regarding the mainstream public consciousness of Asian film in the United States.  This gap widened further when it came specifically to Korean films, which at that time often didn’t come with English subtitles.

The annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) launched three years later, catapulting household names in Asia into universal stardom, and bringing long-lost 35mm prints, wacky programming and even wackier audiences to increasingly larger theaters in the city.  (How many film festivals have you been to where the crowd actually cheers the Golden Harvest intro?)  Their very first Audience Award (2002) went to “My Sassy Girl” starring Cha Tae-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun.  Their very first Star Asia Award (2009) honorees were actors Gong Hyo-jin and So Ji-sub.  Subway Cinema had their finger on the Asian film pulse long before everyone else in the United States did, and it is nearly, single-handedly thanks to them that more than 20 years later, South Korean filmmakers Bong Joon-ho and Youn Yuh-jung have broken ground with their Academy Awards.

Three of the original five founders still comprise the core of Subway Cinema and have since expanded into a multitude of projects.  Grady Hendrix is a published author and screenwriter. Paul Kazee has served on the Cheval Noir jury at the 2017 Fantasia International Film Festival (disclaimer: he has also written more than 30 film reviews for us). But members have pointed to Goran Topalovic as the guru when it comes to Korean film programming at the NYAFF.  Beyond it, Topalovic has penned articles for numerous film magazines, guest edited an issue of NANG Magazine, and spoken at several universities.  For his efforts in promoting Korean films outside of Korea, he became the latest winner of the Korean Cinema Award at the Busan International Film Festival.

To loud cheers, Topalovic spoke at the 2022 Closing Ceremony on Oct. 14 at the Busan Cinema Center.  “It is a huge honor for me to receive the Korean Cinema Award,” he said.  “I would like to thank [chairperson] Mr. Lee Yong-kwan, [director] Huh Moonyung, and everyone at the Busan International Film Festival. I have been programming Korean films for over 20 years now and I feel very fortunate that my career as a film curator has coincided with the rise of new Korean cinema. 

“At their best, Korean films have excelled at skillfully mixing and subverting genre conventions with a unique blend of both commercial and artistic sensibilities. They have effectively entertained the audiences while at the same time holding up a mirror to not just Korean society but also all the complexities and challenges that we all experience in the contemporary world. This is what makes Korean cinema to have such strong appeal globally and what makes it truly part of the world cinema.

“I would like to thank all my past and present colleagues, collaborators and friends in the film industry; my partners at Subway Cinema in New York; my wife [Kim Kyungmi] for all their generosity and support that they have provided me over the years. This award really belongs to everyone in New York who has been part of Subway Cinema and the New York Asian Film Festival, working tirelessly over many years to share their love of Korean cinema and Asian cinema with audiences in the United States and beyond. Thank you so much.”

Learn more about Subway Cinema: https://www.subwaycinema.com/

Learn more about the New York Asian Film Festival: https://www.nyaff.org/

Video: Goran Topalovic, Korean Cinema Award winner, 2022 Busan International Film Festival
video by Meniscus Magazine