In 2007 Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky was commissioned by Art Center Nabi in Seoul, Korea and the Korean American Film Festival in New York to re-score this classic film with a 21st century soundtrack. In March 2011 Miller worked with renowned Korean violinists Eugene Park, Sean Lee, and experimental cellist Okkyung Lee to create a new string quartet score based on Miller’s compositions for Madame Freedom that was edited live using his innovative iPad/iPhone mixing software.

Context:
Madame Freedom was one of the defining films of the “Golden Era” of Korean cinema in the 1950’s. It was based on a serialized novel that itself was an adaptation of Jung Bi-suk’s controversial 1954 novel, Madame Freedom, which was serialized in Seoul Newspaper throughout most of the post-war Korean late 1950’s. Madame Freedom, along with Kim ki-young’s 1960 smash hit film “The Housemaid,” was considered to be highly technological for its era with innovative use of camera angles, a soundtrack involving live bands and orchestras, and above all, the use of record players! In the history of Korean cinema, such films led to the immense popularity of Korean cinema throughout contemporary Asia. One could argue that Madame Freedom is the DNA of the genre known as “hallyu” 한류 or 한국드라마 or “Korean drama.” Most critics would say that Madame Freedom is the first Korean film to utilize crane shots and sound in many novel ways – record players are heard through walls, lighting in clubs is extended into dance scenes while the crane moves through the audience, etc