Why we insist on outdoor screening
글쓴이: hrffseoul@jinbo.net | 글쓴날: 2009/05/27
Like the previous festival, the 2009 human rights film festival is going to be held outdoors. This year's festival takes place in Chunggye Plaza, Seoul. Showing films in the open air is neither easy nor romantic. It rather requires extra plans and labor from us. However, we believe that this festival should be held outdoors until freedom of expression is fully exercised in South Korea.
According to the Promotion Of The Motion Pictures Act, every movie in film festivals,whether the festival is for profit-making or not, should get recommendations from Korean Film Council to be exempted from film rating. So every movie in film festival has to go through either rating or judging process in which the council judges whether the movies can be shown or not. Since the beginning of this festival in 1992, We have firmly believed that not only this Act but also the current film rating system violates freedom of expression. In accordance to the belief, We have been refusing to get recommendations from the council ever since.
However, since last year, it has become impossible to rent a theater for the festival without the recommendation of the Korean Film Council. Therefore, we decided to show our films outdoor where we can show the films without recommendation from government. Everyone has the right to enjoy any kinds of films and exercise freedom of expression. We hope this festival contributes to upholding of freedom of expression in this society.