Image: JIMFF ()
The scale of the 17th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival(JIMFF) will be reduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as the social distancing level in non-Metropolitan areas is elevated to level 3. The Festival was originally planning to accommodate only 50% of capacity for outdoor events and theaters, but will now downsize even further.
The Festival’s original plan was to hold outdoor events including Opening and Closing Ceremonies and ‘One Summer Night’ at Uirimji Stage to welcome more Jecheon citizens, but the elevated social distancing measures preclude all events that are held in places other than theaters. This led to the cancellation of this year’s outdoor stage programs, namely ‘One Summer Night’ and ‘K-Rock Concert’. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, ‘Cinema Concert’, ‘Master Class’ with director Mike Figgis, and ‘JIMFF Selection’ will be held at Jecheon City Cultural Center. The Center will also hold ‘Joyful JIMFF’, a special stage program co-organized with MBC Chungbuk, starring AKMU, Lyn, SKYLE, and Jeong Hyerin, who will perform for COVID-tired Jecheon citizens. This event is open and free for the public for a limited number of Jecheon citizens, in accordance with the social distancing policy. A reservation guideline will be posted on the official website at a later time.
Despite the Festival’s original plan to accommodate only 50% of the total number of theater seats, stronger measures have forced the Festival to downsize even more. Now, only 50% of all films will be screened offline. The International Competition, Korean Competition, Special Presentation, Curator of the Year, JIMFFACE, and All About Korean Music Film 2021 will be screened in theaters, while many films including some International and Korean Competition entries will be screened in the online theaters. The Online theaters will operate via the Korean OTT platform wavve from Thursday, August 12th to Tuesday, August 17th. Guest visits are also significantly downsized. As the scale of the event becomes smaller, the number of Festival volunteers, known as JIMFFree, has been reduced as well.
The Jecheon International Music & Film Festival will be held on and offline from Thursday, August 12th to Tuesday, August 17th. Amid the ongoing pandemic, the Festival will focus firstly on safety, than in delivering the audience comfort and delight through music and films.
