Controversy rises over Busan fest movies
By Yun Suh-young
Local film makers are going head to head with the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) over several regulations that the council plans to revise, saying that the revision will discriminate against certain films in screening opportunities.
The film council decided last week to revise the regulation on the motion picture rating system under clause 1 of article 29 of the law on promoting movies and video materials. It also plans to change its method on supporting art films.
The film makers, however, say that the revision will no longer allow films to be freely screened at film festivals. Until now, movies for film festivals sponsored by local municipalities or the KOFIC had been exempt from being rated. Film makers claim that the revision will become a de facto “pre-censorship” against movies, saying it is a move to prevent movies critical of the government such as “The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol (2014)” from being screened.
The film council, however, refuted in a statement that the revision was not to rate movies individually.
“Rating exemptions apply to film festivals, not individual movies. Film festivals that wish to be exempt from the rating classification must submit details of the films and the festival programs and this applies to all movies that will be screened at the festival whether or not they were already rated in the past,” it said.
KOFIC also plans to revise the art film sponsorship starting this April. It will financially support 26 films that have been selected by the council only if they were screened at designated theaters and meet the designated number of screenings.
The Association of Korean Independent Film and Video immediately released a statement saying that the measure will “strip unselected art films of any screening opportunity.”
The conflict regarding independence in the film industry began with the Busan mayor supposedly pressuring the chairman of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) to resign.
Busan Mayor Seo Byeong-soo met with Chairman Lee Yong-kwan of BIFF on Feb. 23 requesting reform in the BIFF citing audit results last year that showed the film festival violated regulations on selecting movies.
Film industry officials, however, protested that Seo’s request was a form of “revenge” on BIFF’s decision to screen the politically sensitive film, “The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol,” during the festival in October.