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2nd Green Film Festival Kicks Off Sept. 8

115 Films from 34 Countries Joins GFFIS
By Nam Hyun-Woo
Staff Reporter

South Korea hosts numerous film festivals, some of them international ones. Its influence over many of its neighboring countries in the area of film and TV is called "Korean Wave".

Yet, there is another one called "Green Film Festival", which is aimed at instilling awareness about environmental importance into the minds of movie viewers.

The press conference for the Second Green Film Festival in Seoul (GFFIS), held in Seoul Aug. 8, 2005, drew scores of local journalists as well as movie experts and environmental activists.

"Human beings cannot survive unless they take care of environmental problems", said Choi Yol, chairman of the executive committee of the film festival at the press conference. "We wish to deliver this message to the people through this film festival".

The theme of this year's film festival is "Reduce CO2". The theme was taken as 2005 is the year Kyoto Protocol takes effect. Also worsening global warming made the festival to come up with this year's theme, said Ms. Kwak Yeon-Ok, PR manager of the film festival.

A total of 115 films related to the environment from 34 countries will be shown at several movie theaters, including Cine Cube, Starsix Chongdong, and the Seoul Museum of History, in Seoul from Sept. 8 to 14, 2005.

The films comprise 72 documentaries, 23 animations, 17 fiction films, one advertisement, and others.

Among the 72 documentary films is the Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami's 29-minute black-and-white digital film, "Roads of Abbas Kiarostami", to be played for the opening screening.

Kiarostami is well known to the local movie fans, as well. His famous films include "Where Is The Friend's Home?" (1987) and "The Taste of Cherry" (1997). He wants to inspect human, nature, and environment through his work "Kiarostami's Way".

Other documentary films include "A Decent Factory (2004)" directed by Thomas Balmes, and "The Future of Food (2004) directed by Deborah Koons Garcia of America.

Chinese director Lu Chuan's "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2003)" and "Muffin Man(2003) " by American film director Jessica Eisner are among the fiction films.

On the list of the animation films are "Heterogenic (2003) " directed by Raimondo Della Calce and Primo Dreossi, both Italian directors, and "Terminator Tomatoes (2001)" by American director Suzanne Twining.

The whole films are grouped into nine sections: Opening Screening, Green Panorama, Children of the Earth, International Competition, Theme 2005-The Nuclear Age, Retrospective-Les Blank, Special Screenings-The Best Korean Television Environmental Documentaries, GIFFIS-SBS Co-production TV Documentary "The Disaster 0.6℃", and GIFFIS EDPP (GIFFIS Environmental Digital Production Plan).

Aside from the film showing, 21 films will compete for four prizes in the film festival's International Competition section. An amount of 10 million won is at stake for the grand prize and three other three prizes will also offer prize money.

For ticket reservation or other details visit the film festival's official website http://www.gffis.org , visit http://www.ticketlink.co.kr or call 82-2-725-4988 for Ms. Kwak Yeon-Ok, PR manager of the film festival.


Mr. Nam Hyun-Woo, who grew up in the port city of Busan, is serving as a staff reporter of The Seoul Times. He studied industrial engineering at Pukyung National University in Busan. Mr. Nam covers arts and living area with a special focus on film.

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