Cultural co-creation by filmmaking sojourners: transnational film co-production in East Asia

Transnational film co-production in East Asia exemplifies cultural globalization, with cultural ideas and practices interacting across national borders and influencing people’s beliefs, values, and behaviors. This article examines the role played by East Asian filmmaking sojourners as practitioners in transnational film co-production. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 film filmmaking sojourners in Japan and South Korea to answer two research questions: (1) What kind of cultural contact and learning do filmmaking sojourners experience in the practice of transnational film co-production; and (2) what impact do their experiences have on their respective national film industries after they finish their sojourn? The results reveal several challenges that sojourners face as cultural others working to produce films in unfamiliar environments with fellow creators from different filmmaking cultures, as well as the effects that the transnational co-production experience has had at the individual and industry levels, including the improvement of working conditions.