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| The audiences of the 6th Ulju Mountain Film Festival watch a film at a headset screening area in Yeongnam Alps, April 4. Courtesy of Ulju Mountain Film Festival's executive committee |
By Ko Dong-hwan
This year's Ulju Mountain Film Festival (UMFF) ended April 11, after being lauded as a "model contactless festival" for successfully catering to visitors despite the challenging COVID-19 environment that required social distancing and rigorous hygiene protocols.
Held from April 2 across venues inside the Yeongnam Alps theater complex in Ulju County in western Ulsan, the event was held both indoors and outdoors. Indoor cinemas provided spaces for audiences, filmmakers and stars to converse in working sessions as well as watch movies.
But the real efforts by the event organizers were put into preparing outdoor theater environments to maintain the venues' convenience, entertainment level and safety. At a headset screening zone, audiences snuggled inside cushy beanbag chairs that were evenly spaced from each other on lawns and put on headphones before watching films. People also enjoyed the festival from inside their vehicles at a drive-in screening area. Some preferred sitting on wooden benches or inside tents while feeling chilly night gusts at a campground screening zone.
Organizers said the outdoor headset screening and camping ground screening were newly introduced this year "for audiences to experience the outdoor nature in spring and watch mountain films simultaneously."
All audiences ― except those who watched the films online ― were required to electronically sign in with QR codes and get their temperatures checked before entering all screening zones, which were disinfected before and after screening. Food was restricted and seats had to be booked in advance.
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| People at the 6th Ulju Mountain Film Festival watch a film in a campground screening zone at the Yeongnam Alps, April 2. Courtesy of Ulju Mountain Film Festival's executive committee |
The day-and-night event wasn't just about showing films. Visitors could experience rock climbing, trekking local mountain trails and listening to live bands or classical music on outdoor stages.
"I think we have settled the event this year as a legitimate annual spring film festival," said Bae Chang-ho, UMFF executive committee president. "I had a strong belief that cultural activities must go on even during this coronavirus time and tried to follow all the regulations required for safety as planned."
Lee Sun-ho, UMFF's chairman of the board, added that the sixth installment of the film festival this year "successfully adopted eco-friendly and unique changes" as proven by outdoor screenings using headsets and campgrounds. "I believe the event has become a role model for international film festivals particularly in this time of (everything) being contactless," he said.
The festival opened with Austria's "K2: The Impossible Descent" and ended with Turkey's "Mavzer." It presented a total of 146 movies from 43 countries, up 18 films from the previous year when the event was also held amid the pandemic.
The Grand Prize went to Eliza Kubarska's "The Wall of Shadows" made in Poland, Germany and Switzerland. The Best Alpinism and Climbing Film went to Pavol Barabas' Slovak film "Everest ― The Hard Way"; the Best Adventure and Exploration Film went to "Into the Storm" by Adam Brown from the U.K.; and the Best Nature and People Film went to the Canadian film "The Magnitude of All Things" by Jennifer Abbott. The Special Jury Prize went to the Korean animation "Climbing" by Kim Hye-mi.
The festival this year drew some 3,600 offline viewers and 18,000 online. The total audience figure jumped 20 percent from the previous year, according to the UMFF. The event did not hold a closing ceremony to minimize the coronavirus risk.
