Youth film festival to portray dreams and pains of youth

The biggest youth film festival in Korea will open with a bang next Thursday. A total of 124 films from 33 nations will be screened at the 11th Seoul International Youth Film Festival from July 9 to 15. The opening ceremony will take place at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and the movies will be shown at Seoul Cinema in Jongno-gu.

The catchphrase of the latest youth festival is "Whisper of the Heart" as a way to encourage young generations to learn to listen to others more and reach out to the wider world.

Accordingly, most of the movies that are about young people aged from 13 to 18 will center on the themes of adolescence, family and growing up.

The participating films are grouped into several sections. The Children of Heaven section presents movies for the whole family, allowing children aged from seven up. The It's Okay to be Different section shows documentary films from home and abroad and the Discovery of Korean Coming-of-Age section will feature youth films of Korea that were made last year.

The opening movie is "I Know You Know" (2008) directed by Justin Kerrigan, about a young boy Jamie, who discovers what pains his father Charlie. The movie was featured at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival.

Just because the film festival is for youth doesn't necessarily mean that it will always feature light and sunny themes. "Oh My God" (2008) directed by Norway's Anne Sewitsky provides a humorous picture of a young girl who wonders about orgasms while "Oppai Volleyball" (2009) directed by Hasumi Eiichiro (2009) deals with boys' views on sex and love.

There's "Disfigured" (2008) by Glenn Gers, depicting the pain and friendship between two girls, one who is obese and the other suffering from anorexia and Kenji Nakanishi's "The Blue Bird" (2008), a film that delves into human relations through group-neglect. "The Inheritors" (2008) by Eugenio Polgovsky meanwhile, shows the life young children born in poor countryside of Mexico working hard to make ends meet.

For old movie fans a total of six star movies of the 1970s are back, in which five of them are black and white films. Enjoy these golden oldies of Korea: "Crazy for you" (1976), "Yalkae, a joker in High school" (1976) and "High School Champ" (1977).

The tickets cost 5,000 won per movie. There's a 50 percent discount for groups of 20, and 30 percent discount for people living in Jongno-gu, to encourage more patronage. All non-English language movies are subtitled in English and Korean.

There's also a Seoul International Youth Film Camp that will take place at Seoul Youth Hostel in Hyehwa-dong. This is where youths from overseas will come together to make films and exchange ideas. A total of 100 teenagers will participate in the week-long camp program, learning all about film production from the experts and attend related forums. Another 10 films will be presented at the closing ceremony.

Throughout the festive period there will also be additional concerts, comedy, dances and other various performances in front of Seoul Cinema.

For more on the schedule and other details click: 11th Seoul International Youth Film Festival (Open the link)

By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net Staff Writer