The Seoul International Pride Film Festival, the largest LGBTQ+ film festival in Korea, will open on the 5th of next month.
This year, the festival coincides with its 10th anniversary and will be held at CGV Myeongdong Station Cine Library in Seoul on the 5th to 11th of next month, and 105 queer movies from 42 countries will be screened.
Regarding the mode of screening, the Head of Executive Committee said during a press conference on Tuesday, "Due to the pandemic, many film festivals are either going online or have been canceled. However, we decided to hold the festival offline as the situation in Korea is improving."
He added, "Initially, we planned to hold a bigger festival this year to mark its 10th anniversary, but we could not proceed with our plan due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, we are presenting 105 movies from 42 countries -- five more movies than the 100 that were screened last year -- and we are also using all five screens at CGV Myeongdong to hold the festival. So, it will be slightly bigger than last year."
The opening film "Summer 85" by Francois Ozon and the closing film "Made in Rooftop" by director Kim Jo Kwang Soo were selected. Regarding the opening film, it was said that "It is a movie about two boys in France during the summer of 1985. The movie features familiar pop music of the time that audiences can enjoy."
Director Kim Jo Kwang Soo, who presented a new feature film in eight years as a closing film, served as the film festival's executive committee chair.
At a press conference on October 13, executive chairman Kim Jo Kwang Soo said, "The film festival is proud of four things: pride, diversity, solidarity, and exchange." These will be the 4 main themes of the festival. "Among our four themes, we see pride as the most important. We hope that diverse social minorities can connect and form solidarity through the festival and ultimately have pride in themselves."
The Seoul International Pride Film Festival, which started in 2011, has grown both in quantity and quality over the past 10 years. The number of films screened at the 1st Film Festival was only 23, but this year it has quadrupled to 105. Since 2014, it has been operating the 'Pride Film Project,' a program that supports the production of queer films so that they can be continuously produced.
Last year, it introduced a competition category for Asian feature films and Korean short films for the best work awards.
Starting this year, the "Queer Film Critic Award" will be awarded to introduce excellent works to the audience. Next year, the general meeting of the Asia-Pacific Pride Film Festival Alliance, a coalition of LGBTQ film festivals in the Asia-Pacific region, is scheduled to be held in Seoul.
Executive Chairman Kim Jo Kwang Soo said, "The Seoul International Pride Film Festival emerged as an international film festival last year, and this is the 10th anniversary. If there is a goal in the future, it is to be the largest LGBT film festival in Asia."
