Inside Korea’s sole video archive, where memory and new storytelling converge

KOFA, the Korea Film Archive, traces its roots to 1974 when it began as the Korea Film Storage. Today, it stands as the country’s only dedicated video archive institution, gathering and preserving materials related to cinema. The archive is tucked within the Sangam Digital Media City (DMC) complex and operates Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with Sundays and Mondays closed.

In the basement’s Cinematech KOFA, two screening rooms—one with 321 seats and another with 150—host 2 to 3 film screenings daily. Guest visits (GV) are also held. Tickets can be reserved online or on-site, and admission is free. Screenings start punctually, so entry may be restricted at the exact start time; there are no commercial breaks, and the film begins immediately after a pre-screening information video.

On the second floor sits the Video Library. Open to anyone aged 15 or older, the space welcomes roughly 250 visitors per day. Among its holdings are about 30,000 video items and around 13,000 books, including a wide range of film-related materials such as videos, books, scripts, storyboards, magazines, and more. The library curates a domestic and international collection that covers independent cinema, commercial releases, festival-winning works, and overseas collection packages, complemented by film-related books, art books, and indie publications.

At the entrance, visitors can use a computer to print the catalog entry for a work, then borrow a DVD to watch in a freely chosen seat. The facility offers a single-seat area with roughly 37 seats, plus two group viewing rooms for 3–6 or 3–8 people, and seminar rooms available by reservation. This space serves as both a venue for film study and a place to enjoy cinema—watching films, exploring the exhibitions, and locating the materials one needs.

KOFA’s mission to gather, record, and preserve a wide range of film-related materials is reinforced by its role as a central hub. It is remembered as a space where long memories meet new stories, the kind of place that continually writes cinema’s evolving history.