Japan embassy sought info on Korean film via Berlin film fest reps

A former diplomat said embassies often reached out to film festival organizers when Japanese films were planned to be shown.

"We are required to assert Japan's position, whether it be from a cultural or economic standpoint, …

Should bureaucrats be determining the people’s position on cultural topics?

For example, if a film about whaling presents data from the independent Nippon Research Centre showing that 95 percent of Japanese residents very rarely or never eat whale meat, should the Japanese government be using our taxes to push an opposing viewpoint?

How is any of their business

Is it because Koreans create fantasy history and say "This movie is the basis of history!" even though it is a movie?

In the movie Gunkanjima, the US military came to rescue the Koreans at the end lol

The zainichi are predominantly decendants of those Koreans who emmigrated to Japan after 1910 of their own free will for the better economic opportunities. The Zainichi and everything they suffered is a Japanese domestic issue. Some Zainichi seek their identity in their ancestors homelad while other zainichi live a totally Japanese life, some not even speaking Korean.

The colonial rule over Korea, the comfort women, forced labor are issues between South Korea and Japan.

Park is wrong to combine these issues.

The way to handle unflattering information about your country - any country - is to verify the facts and own any facts which don't show it in a good way. Show what steps Japan has taken to prevent similar things from happening again.

All countries have bad things in their histories. The way for Japan to handle it is to educate children in their schools about it, prevent denials, and to show how the country is moving forward from them. Hiding prior history isn't good, but it is very common across many different groups and countries.

This whole news sound like a complete nothingburger. The embassy asked the organizers what that movie was about, got an answer and that was it.

Pretty sure other embassies (US and so on) also ask about movies concerning their countries.

The US govt doesn't ask about movies or pressure that industry on any subjects outside of pornographic laws. There are many, many, movies released in the US every year that show some huge negative things about different USgovt events. It is common. The movie industry self-regulates through the MPAA rating system here. That's about it.

I can understand why that may seem different from many other countries. The USGovt has enough issues to worry about. Perhaps the US Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ cares the most about movies, since they induct 25 into the national film registry list every year.

Established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, the National Film Preservation Board works to ensure the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America's film heritage

At the top of the list (think it is alphabetical is 12 Years a Slave. Not exactly a flattering period in American history by the standards of the last 100+ years. There are fun movies and embarrassing movies in the list. Platoon is about the Vietnam war and shows good and bad from soldiers and their leaders. Lady and the Tramp was added recently too. Everyone loves cartoons about dogs falling in love, right?

Did Japan ask about The Act of Killing (2012) documentary? That film is an embarrassment for Indonesia, the US AND China. It was still made and is very powerful.

IMHO, any embassy asking about movies beyond what the producers have published is in appropriate and just demonstrates insecurity. Let the artists do their thing. It will find an audience if the film is good.