Film festival by directors to be held online

A poster for The CMR-Directors Week, a new film festival organized by and for film directors (Directors Guild of Korea)

The CMR—Directors Week, a film festival organized by and for film directors, will be held from Tuesday to Saturday.

The festival has been held under the name Chungmuro International Musical Film Festival, but in September, the film festival organizer Junggu Cultural Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Directors Guild of Korea to turn the musical film festival into a film festival for directors this year. The organizer added that the MOU aims to boost the film industry hit hard by the spread of COVID-19.

The Directors Guild of Korea is an association with more than 370 directors, including Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, as its members. Established in 2015 to protect the rights of Korean directors, the organization has been conducting diverse projects to support the growth of the film industry.

The event was inspired by The Directors’ Fortnight, a non-competitive event that runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival created in 1969 by the French Directors’ Guild.

The festival will feature four programs — By The Directors, For The Directors, Of The Directors and With The Directors.

The organizer highlighted the guest visitor (GV) event, which will allow directors to ask fellow directors questions about films. The event will be livestreamed through Naver TV. Yeon Sang-ho, who recently directed zombie thriller “Peninsula” will be taking questions along with eight other feature film directors. Ten short film directors will also participate in this year’s online GV event.

Five feature films, including “Peninsula” and “An Old Lady” directed by Lim Sun-ae, will also be streamed before the GV event through Naver TV. Viewers have to pay at least 1,000 won (90 cents) to watch a film online. Up to 300 viewers are allowed to watch each film.

A discussion session will also be held with “The School Nurse Files” director Lee Kyung-mi and director Kim Do-yeong of “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982,” among others.

More details about the event and its schedule can be found on the event‘s website, thecmr.kr.

Established in 2015, the Junggu Cultural Foundation organizes cultural events, including a festival to boost and revive Chungmuro, which was once the hub of filmmaking.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heralcorp.com)