Concurrent with the growing body of scholarship on South Korean cinema, Directory of World Cinema: South Korea offers an accessible overview of South Korea's film industry. In addition to the action and horror films usually considered in studies of South Korean cinema, this volume also examines genres that have traditionally lacked critical attention, including romantic comedies and gay and lesbian features. Essays by leading film scholars explore a variety of topics, including the emergence of South Korean cinema into the global marketplace in the late 1990s; the genre known as hanyru, or the Korean Wave; and the centrality of film festivals in promoting new South Korean films. The most comprehensive English-language publication available on South Korean cinema, this informative, analytical and entertaining guide will be widely appreciated by film fans and enthusiasts of Korean pop culture.