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A rising number of incubating programs for teenage filmmakers are being offered to nurture the future players of the cinema industry. In the past few months, programs such as ‘I-TEENS’, one of the main programs of the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival (SIWFF) annually held in May, ‘Filmmakers in School Uniforms’ film festival held on July 9, the Korean Film Archive’s ‘Film Production Class Camp’, Lotte Cultureworks Co. Ltd.’s ‘Film Production Class Camp’, and ‘Us’, the youth film education program offered by the Busan Film Commission-affiliated non-profit organization raised a lot of attention. It seems that the Korean film industry is making a great deal of efforts to focus on supporting and fostering teenage filmmakers, especially Asian artists who might soon be tomorrow’s film leaders

Pretty recently, SIWFF, known for always being at the forefront of advocating teenage filmmakers, has drawn a lot of attention through its competition section ‘I-TEENS’, which has actively exposed the issues of misogyny and gender inequality of Korean society through several teenage female filmmakers’ works invited in this section. Recognized among teen filmmakers as one of the festival’s high profile programs, attracting a large number of submissions each year, ‘I-TEENS’ winners are selected by a jury composed of the teenage female from the audience, making this a section that both promotes teenage female filmmakers and nurture young viewers. SIWFF programmer BAE Jooyeon explains, “Given those female filmmakers under the age of 20 are well versed in digital media, the number of outstanding works reflecting teenage point-of-views and dilemmas continue to grow’. SIWFF has also opened a ‘Cine Feminism School for Teenagers’ to put more weight on film education. During this special event held in July, the director of My Skinny Sister, Sanna Lenken, and KIM Bo-ram, director of For Vagina’s Sake, participated in lectures and open-talk session.

Korea’s leading investment/distribution company Lotte Cultureworks Co. Ltd. and multiplex chain CJ CGV are also putting a lot of thoughts into film education for teenagers. Initiated in 2017, Lotte Cultureworks Co. Ltd.’s film education program, ‘Film Production Class Camp’ offers classes that provide an academic overview of the film industry and film production as well as hands-on workshops in film cinematography and editing. A new 2-nights/3-days course that opened this year to focus on the latest visual art techniques such as VR cinematography, computer graphics and shooting night scenes, was especially received with great enthusiasm. On the other hand, CJ CGV expanded its target group to overseas teenagers. The company’s teenage filmmaker and audience incubating programs, ‘MOVIE FOR EVERYONE’ and ‘Toto Film Making Class’ reached out to teenagers of CJ CGV overseas operation countries such as China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Launched in 2011, ‘MOVIE FOR EVERYONE’ offers screenings to teenagers living in remote areas where theaters are hard to come by. So far, a total of 13,000 students in Vietnam had the opportunity to watch films during the 4 special screenings that have been held on this occasion. Launched in 2012, the ‘Toto Film Making Class’ is providing film production classes to local teenagers aspiring to become filmmakers. 

In addition to film festivals and major investment/distribution companies, local film commissions are also joining forces in nurturing the youth with several programs for local teenage filmmakers. The Busan Film Commission-run Busan Asian Film School (AFiS)’s non-profit group, ‘Us’, recently offered film production classes for students of the Busan-based alternative school for North Korean refugees ‘Jang Dae-Hyun School’. A handful of film professionals including Finecut Co., Ltd.’s head, SUH Youngjoo, Warner Bros. Korea’s Team Leader BYUN Seung-min, director of LOST TO SHAME (2017) NAM Yeon-woo, director of HOME KIM Jong-woo, director of Champion KIM Yong-wan, producer HAN Dong-Hwan and writer of TV drama Argon JOO Won-gyu participated in this program. At this occasion, AFiS has provided the school cameras, lighting, and sound recording equipment from its own inventory, and offered its editing facility free-of-charge, also announcing its plans to “actively participate in social contribution activities in the fields of film and visual art”. 

 

Spaces to showcase films made by teenagers are growing in numbers. The Seoul International Youth Film Festival (SIYFF) has embraced its 20th edition this year and the Anyang International Youth Film Festival launched in 2016 is still running strong, while new film festivals bloom at the image of the 1st ‘Filmmakers in School Uniforms’ organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. Likewise, with more films made by teenagers inspired by the rising number of programs in film education for youth, the importance of such film festivals is anticipated to grow as they will be the first window on teenage filmmaker’s works and a great tool in screening those early works. 

The sharp rise in incubating programs for teenage filmmakers compared to last year is in line with the future-designing TF program presented by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). During a press conference in April, KOFIC introduced its plan to make it its key business to “include film education in the public education system”. KOFIC concluded that “the time has come to systematize visual arts education for this YouTube and smartphone generation, and to institutionalize education required for creating and enjoying film art”, also commenting on the “necessity to create a stable audience group for all different kinds of Korean films”. Accordingly, KOFIC launched its film education division through an organization restructuration this April and began working on the basic infrastructure to include the film in schools’ regular curriculum. KOFIC’s goal is to develop a systematic curriculum and include film education in the public education program in elementary, middle and high school classes.