South Korea in the 1950s was home to a burgeoning film culture. In Cold War Cosmopolitanism: Period Style in 1950s Korean Cinema (University of California Press, 2020) author Christina Klein offers a transnational cultural history of South Korean film style from this era, with particular focus on the directorial and period style of Han Hyung-mo and his popular movie “Madame Freedom.” Klein shows how the films were affected by the legacies of Japanese colonialism, the presence of the U.S. military bases, Cold War cultural diplomacy efforts by America, and the import of popular cultures from around the world. Klein is an associate professor in the English Department and director of the American Studies program at BC. Read more about Klein and her new book in this interview with The Korea Times.