Korea's dynamic cinematic culture is evident in the success of a number of film festivals in recent years: Busan International Film Festival, Women's Film Festival in Seoul, Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival, Indie Film Festival. Combined with a remarkable popularity of comtemporary Korean films, these events represent Korean people's burgeoning interest in film arts. Furthermore, they inform the lingering cultural function of cinema to the lives of modern Koreans since its introduction into the nation at the turn of the century.
The early 20th century, when the medium of cinema was invented and spread globally, was the heyday of imperialism and industrial capitalism. Korea was just forced to open its ports by foreign aggressions: Japan, Russia, Germany, and the United States. As a progeny of modernity, film was initially conceived as a medium of progress and enlightenment to many Korean intellectuals who confronted the modernizing forces that were making a profound impact on the lives of East Asia at the time.

Burton Holmes, an American world traveler who wrote voluminous travelogues, visited Korea in 1889 with his staff. He brought a little motion picture camera and the portable projector to Korea, and attracted many people in the city of Seoul. The film he shot was then the first cinematic documentary of Korea. The royal family, taking a great interest in Holmes' apparatus, invited his group to the palace and enjoyed his film presentation. Concurrently, the American Tobacco Company and English-American Electric Company utilized the occasion of film presentation for promotional ends. Koreans were soon exposed to many early films from the United States, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan,

Korean cinema developed into a definitive modern medium during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945). In the 1920s, film makers combined traditional modes of theater presentation with cinematic materials. Kinedrama, a characteristic type of this genre, emerged around 1919 with the film, "Uirijeok boksu" (Righteous Revenge). Kinedrama played a crucial role to bring transition from a traditional, theatrical drama to the cinematic one. Thereafter, the first "modern" film made its debut: "Gukkyeong" (The Border, 1923). Films gradually replaced the kinedrama form and the landscape of cinematic culture changed thereafter.