'Hwasung Village Film Festival' Opens September 5 at Closed Seosin Elementary School Jebu Branch Campus

Hwasung Special City (Mayor Jung Myung-geun) announced that the '3rd Hwasung Village Film Festival,' where the living spaces of citizens in this one-million-person city become a cinema and ordinary citizens become the protagonists, will be held September 5-6 at the playground of Seosin Elementary School Jebu Branch Campus on Jebu Island.

The Hwasung Village Film Festival began in 2024 to reconsider the values of people, relationships, and community that are easily forgotten as cities grow, through film.

This year's festival transforms the playground of Seosin Elementary School Jebu Branch Campus, closed due to declining student enrollment, into a village cinema where island residents and tourists can enjoy films together under the stars. With the theme 'Island-Seeing Village Cinema,' it aims to view the familiar Jebu Island anew through the lens of film and fill the empty space with people and stories.

A total of 10 films will be screened, including citizen-produced films directly made by Hwasung's youth, adolescents, and activists, as well as invited external films selected by citizen programmers. Alongside film screenings, experience booths for citizen participation will operate, and a director-audience dialogue session (G.V.) has been arranged.

To hold the festival, since March, preparations have been made through cooperation among the citizen group Glocal Content Exchange Association, Hwasung City, Gyeonggi Province Content Agency, Gyeonggi Province Hwasung-Osan Office of Education Support, Hwasung City Sustainable Development Council, Seosin-myeon Residents Autonomous Association, and Jebu-ri Village Association.

The festival is open to all citizens to participate freely. In particular, this year it is linked with Hwasung City's city tour 'Kind Travel One Day' (Sunset and One Day course) so that visitors can enjoy both the festival and local tourism together. On September 5 afternoon, visitors can tour the Songsan Grape Festival, then watch films in Jebu Island in the evening.