Kim stages alternative film festival to highlight clash between paradigms

Kim Hong-joon, director of the Real Fantastic Film Festival, has been under the media spotlight in recent days. The festival kicks off tomorrow, but the problem is that another fantasy-oriented film festival that he had led for the past eight years starts its 10-day schedule on the very same day.

The Real Fantastic Film Festival is a show of protest against the Puchon International Film Festival. Kim and former staff of PiFan are working for the new film festival without getting paid.

The conflict and rivalry began last year when the PiFan organizing committee abruptly fired festival director Kim. The domestic film industry is boycotting PiFan and expressing support for Kim and RFFF. Although there is talk of merging the two festivals amid a glut of obscure local film festivals, the two parties do not show any sign of compromise.

Kim's motive is now a matter of controversy, as film buffs in Korea are deeply confused by the two rival film festivals. And yet Kim says in an interview with The Korea Herald that staging the new fantasy film festival is inevitable.

Here are excerpts of the interview:

Herald: How are preparations going for the first Real Fantastic Film Festival?

Kim: About 60 films will be shown to the audiences, and ticket sales are going smoothly, though online reservations turned out to be more complicated than we thought. The scale of the festival itself is small, but things are pretty good so far.

H: What is the purpose of staging another film festival in the same genre?

K: This is not my personal revenge against PiFan, nor a move to block PiFan from presenting films to the audiences. The primary reason is to publicize that PiFan has failed to secure independence as a film festival. When I was fired, some programmers intended to stay to protect the festival, but even those who wanted to save the events were fired. That's why I decided to push for RFFF.

H: What exactly happened concerning your position at PiFan?

K: In mid-December, I got notified indirectly about the decision to fire me, and even before that, there were some rumors. The Bucheon City's official reason was that I became the director of the School of Film, TV and Multimedia at the Korean National University of Arts, which means I was not supposed to take the position. And the second reason was that Bucheon citizens were sidelined in the process of organizing PiFan. Their participation rate was not great, but why should PiFan be limited to Bucheon citizens only? What is the identity of the film festival? I think this is an identity issue between a region-oriented event and a film festival, and my view is that the identify of the festival is more important.

H: The Korean movie industry is boycotting PiFan. What is the reason?

K: PiFan and Bucheon City are now criticizing us regarding the boycott, but the truth of the matter is that they deserve it. When PiFan organizing committee moved to fire me last year, Korean film producers, directors and actors expressed their intention to boycott the event, regarding the case in which the independence of a film festival has bee compromised. Filmmakers demanded apologies and attempted to address the issue with Bucheon officials, but despite a series of negotiations, we have eventually failed to produce a compromise by the end of April.

H: Why does RFFF have to be held together with PiFan?

K: PiFan used to be Korea's sole venue for enjoying non-mainstream films. If PiFan focuses on Bucheon citizens, such a tradition will fade away, and I want to keep up the tradition. By staging the festivals simultaneously, I want the media to highlight the importance of the fantasy film festival itself and I want the public to judge which festival is better.

H: Is there any long-term plan?

K: Basically, RFFF is a one-off event. But if our spirit and tradition are duly recognized by the public, we are willing to make it an annual event. We don't have enough budget and we're now working as volunteers, but we believe the importance of independence when it comes to film festivals.

H: What is the reaction of foreign filmmakers?

K: They knew it right away. I mean, they noticed why we're staging another film festival, because there have been similar cases around the world. At Cannes Film Festival, I frankly told filmmakers that we couldn't pay for renting their films or offer any other financial support. But they agreed to join the festival for free, with letters of encouragement.

H: What is the significance of the conflict?

K: I hope people will not view this as a simple confrontation between two fantasy film festivals. It's a conflict between two different paradigms - those who want to preserve the independence of film festivals and the administrative authority stressing the importance of 'citizens'. There are numerous conditions to be met when we stage film festivals. Showing films to the audiences is not enough. Each and every film should be taken care of so that they can communicate with people properly, and such organization skills cannot be obtained overnight. Since key programmers and staff of PiFan left, I'm worried about PiFan.

By Yang Sung-jin

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