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| ▲This photo shows eve festival of BIFF, which took place at BIFF Sqaure. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲This photo shows eve festival of BIFF, which took place at BIFF Sqaure. (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- Jungu, once the birthplace of the Busan International Film Festival but neglected as the main stage of film festivals moved to Haeundae district, is once again attempting to take another leap forward as a "Cinema city" through the local program of film festival.
Busan International Film Festival, which began in 1996, held its first event at BIFF Square in Nampo-dong, Jung-gu.
At the time, BIFF Square was a mecca of local cultures where large theaters such as Busan Theater, Kukdo Theater, and Jeil Theater were concentrated and where young men and women flocked to.
This popular city with film festivals underwent misfortune since 2002.
The location for film festival began to be divided into two as the film festival, which faced difficultly to hold large-scale events due to the narrow square and insufficient accommodations, turned its eyes to Haeundae, where development was in full swing at the time.
Another known reason for moving the main stage was in the early days of the film festival when it was difficult for it to attract audiences, hard-nosed large theaters in BIFF Square treated film festivals poorly regarding the rental issue.
The dualized film festival management was ultimately handed over the main stage to Haundae when Cinema Center was built.
Jung-gu since then has been singled out, not holding a single festival in 2011, 2016, and 2017, sitting on the sidelines during the film festival period.
Only one event was left in Jung-gu: "Eve Festival," which was held only because of its symbolism as the birthplace of the film festival.
The district since has been working to shift the mood and regain old reputation.
"Community BIFF," a specialized program only held in the birthplace of the film festival, Jung-gu, has been taking place since 2018 and contributes to revitalize the original downtown area.
The program is an experimental attempt unique to the Busan International Film Festival, which encourages people to watch movie in various ways, create a meeting place for filmmakers and audiences, and watch movies in a fun way.
However, the efforts of the film festival and Jung-gu have been fruitless over the three years, due to COVID-19.
The Film Festivals are finally taking place normally, and it has been gaining attention as it will be held "face-to-face,", which is the main element of the Community BIFF.
About 70 community BIFF programs are prepared in Jung-gu alone during the festival period, Oct.6 to 10.
Over 60 events where directors, actors, critics, and singers can meet the audience are planned, and various events are held at the Daeyeong Theater and BIFF Square during the Golden Week holiday, which includes substitution holiday of Hangeul Day.
Citizens can experience shooting as director or actor and participate in programs to try Cine-art or hologram.
The district hopes that this event will restore their old reputation and revitalize the area, which became stagnant after COVID-19.
More than 500 audiences, even in the rain, visited eve festival of 27th BIFF, which took place on Tuesday, showing the possibility of regaining their old fame.
An official of Jung-gu said, "Although number of tourists declined due to COVID-19 and stores in Nampodong area went out of business , tourists are once again visiting the area thanks to the festival and I hope that regional economy becomes more activated."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)
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