[Editorial] KOFIC should reconduct selection of MediACT management

Posted on : 2010-02-20 14:21 KST Modified on : 2010-02-20 14:21 KST

An extraordinary situation has developed in which independent film directors, criticizing the selection of managers of an independent film promotion body, are boycotting the screening of their films. This is an explosive response to the biased operations of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Korean Film Council (KOFIC). A total of 155 directors signed the boycott declaration, including director Lee Chung-ryul, whose “Old Partner” set a monumental box office record by drawing 3 million viewers last year, and Yang Ik-june, whose “Breathless” swept through acclaimed world film festivals.

The independent film theater IndieSpace and media education center MediACT had prior to now been managed by KOFIC at the behest of the Association of Korean Independent Film and Video (KIFV), which represent independent filmmakers. In so doing, it has provided an advanced base to promote independent film. Late last month, however, KOFIC selected the Council for the Advancement of Diversity in Korean Film (ADKF) and the Institute for Citizen Visual Culture (ICVC) as IndieSpace and MediaACT’s new managers. Created just two and three months ago, the ADKF and ICVC are unknown even among filmmakers and directors. This could be seen as nothing other than a very improper selection of an operator to carry out film screening planning and film education duties.



The selection process has also been shrouded in suspicious actions. ADKF and ICVC received low scores during the first KOFIC competitive selection process, but during the second round, they finished in first place, despite submitting similar materials. In response, Democratic Party (DP) Lawmaker Choi Moon-soon claimed ADKF is virtually the same group as the Forum for the Future of Culture and in the screening, KOFIC Chairman Cho Hee-mun and several Forum for the Future of Culture officials intervened. The Forum for the Future of Culture, a conservative culture organization headed by Sungkyunkwan University professor Jeong Jin-Soo, is New Right group, and Cho is a founding member. Pro-government figures have gotten their hands on the culture world’s rice bowl, and now they attempting a takeover of independent film.

Independent filmmakers are individuals who put space between themselves and conventional forms of film to create a new media language who have also declared their independence from power in order to protect human rights and freedom. They strive to overcome barriers with a passionate innovative spirit, despite a lack of access to technology and capital possessed by studio giants. This is the era in which, this spirit having accumulated, great leaps in independent films, such as “Old Partner,” are just beginning to take place. The behavior of KOFIC, which is trying to change the management of an independent film promotion institution based on a political “code,” is an anti-cultural attitude that contracts the independence and innovative spirit of filmmakers. 
KOFIC must nullify the results of its faulty management selection. We hope it forms a screening committee of figures with expertise and impartiality and reconducts the bid procedures transparently.

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