PrismWorks Korean film restorations
Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2025 3:47 pmWhile doing some research I noticed that several martial arts films on the KMDB have a new video on their pages. It's nothing to get too excited about yet, as it's not footage from the films themselves, but it could point to some good news in the future (fingers crossed). What it shows is a newly made cast and credits, the most important credit being for “Restoration & 4K Re-mastering” by (주) 프리즘웍스 (PrismWorks).
I discovered the work of PrismWorks a few years back now, I was searching for some rare Korean martial arts films and was delighted not only to find some clips from some of these films, but they were also restored and in HQ too! I contacted them to ask if they were planning any DVD or BluRay releases, or even online streaming, but at that time they were only screening them at events in Korea. They said they were considering streaming them or doing physical releases but this was just an ide at that time. They said to keep an eye on their YT page and I have, they've released more clips from Korean films of all genres but I've not seen any update on the full release situation.
So coming across this new information is very exciting, not only are PrismWorks now connected with the Korean Film Archive, using their skills to restore some hidden Korean gems, but to me it seems to signal that these films may see the light of day at some point soon, possibly on the KOFA YT page. Hopefully it also means that PrismWorks will be involved in more restoration projects with the KOFA, and more of these rare martial arts films sitting in the vaults will get their time to shine.
Obviously this is making an educated guess, but I'm hopeful. Things are looking quite promising for classic Korean martial arts cinema right now, we've got the recently announced securing of film rights by Frédéric Ambroisine that I did a post on not too long ago, but also there are supposedly plans for a 2nd Clones Of Bruce Lee Boxset from Michael Worth and of course the IFD catalogue according to Toby Russell (still waiting though).
Hopefully by the time I get back from my research break some of these may have materialized. Fingers crossed!!!
Please check out PrismWorks's YT page and give them support, their work definitely deserves it and who knows, if they get convinced that there are fans hungry for some rare martial arts films they may push to get their library (and maybe more) to the fans outside of Korea. I'd love for them to dig into more of Nam Ki-nam's films as he did many of the co-productions that had different scenes for Korea, something fans around the globe have never seen.
https://www.youtube.com/@prismworks/featured
Speaking of my break, yes I did finally start it a few weeks back, I watched a few films and even got round to finally playing the original System Shock. I also started SS2 but am not enjoying it as much, but I ended up doing a little bit of research in between uploading my posts, as that is taking quite a bit of time too. But this will be it, after the next (final) section on the Unknown actors I won't be posting anything for quite a while, maybe even until after Xmas, we'll have to see if I can resist that long
I discovered the work of PrismWorks a few years back now, I was searching for some rare Korean martial arts films and was delighted not only to find some clips from some of these films, but they were also restored and in HQ too! I contacted them to ask if they were planning any DVD or BluRay releases, or even online streaming, but at that time they were only screening them at events in Korea. They said they were considering streaming them or doing physical releases but this was just an ide at that time. They said to keep an eye on their YT page and I have, they've released more clips from Korean films of all genres but I've not seen any update on the full release situation.
So coming across this new information is very exciting, not only are PrismWorks now connected with the Korean Film Archive, using their skills to restore some hidden Korean gems, but to me it seems to signal that these films may see the light of day at some point soon, possibly on the KOFA YT page. Hopefully it also means that PrismWorks will be involved in more restoration projects with the KOFA, and more of these rare martial arts films sitting in the vaults will get their time to shine.
Obviously this is making an educated guess, but I'm hopeful. Things are looking quite promising for classic Korean martial arts cinema right now, we've got the recently announced securing of film rights by Frédéric Ambroisine that I did a post on not too long ago, but also there are supposedly plans for a 2nd Clones Of Bruce Lee Boxset from Michael Worth and of course the IFD catalogue according to Toby Russell (still waiting though).
Hopefully by the time I get back from my research break some of these may have materialized. Fingers crossed!!!
Please check out PrismWorks's YT page and give them support, their work definitely deserves it and who knows, if they get convinced that there are fans hungry for some rare martial arts films they may push to get their library (and maybe more) to the fans outside of Korea. I'd love for them to dig into more of Nam Ki-nam's films as he did many of the co-productions that had different scenes for Korea, something fans around the globe have never seen.
https://www.youtube.com/@prismworks/featured
Speaking of my break, yes I did finally start it a few weeks back, I watched a few films and even got round to finally playing the original System Shock. I also started SS2 but am not enjoying it as much, but I ended up doing a little bit of research in between uploading my posts, as that is taking quite a bit of time too. But this will be it, after the next (final) section on the Unknown actors I won't be posting anything for quite a while, maybe even until after Xmas, we'll have to see if I can resist that long
