EBS’ documentary festival EIDF opens with controversial bully documentary


Korea’s Educational Broadcasting System is showcasing a number of socially conscious and educational non-fiction films in its upcoming EBS International Documentary Festival.

The annual event is one of the very few documentary events in the world where the films are screened both in movie theaters and on TV. The festival is celebrating its ninth edition this year, featuring 48 films from 31 countries. Some 710 films were submitted for this year’s line-up of the festival.

“I think the issue of education is considered very important worldwide,” said Kwak Duk-hoon, president and CEO of EBS, during a press conference on Tuesday.

“We think documentaries can be great educational material for our kids. We hope to improve the quality of education in Korea with this culturally-rich event. The festival also offers conferences, where people can gather and talk about the social and cultural themes that are dealt with in the featured movies.”

One of the two competitive sections this year is in fact titled “Edu-Choice.” The section consists of a total of five films that carry educational values, including U.S. director Judy Lieff’s “Deaf Jam,” a portrait of a young girl with a hearing impairment and her powerful use of visual language; German director Edda Baumann-von Broen’s “Tall Girls: A Story of Giants,” which tells a story of five young women whose height is above 1.85 meters; and U.S. directors Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine’s “Inocente,” which follows the life of a young, homeless undocumented immigrant who dreams of becoming an artist. All the movies in this section are screened for free.

This year’s opener has been selected to be U.S. director Lee Hirsch’s controversial film “Bully.” Hirsch, a former victim of bullying himself, follows five young victims of bullying throughout a school year in the film. He also tells the stores of two families whose children have committed suicide after being severely bullied at school. The film has been recognized for Hirsch’s rare access to classrooms as well as an intense cinematic expose of the pain the kids face. Hirsch, who has been vocal about the issue of bullying since the release of the movie last year, will be in Seoul during the festival and scheduled to talk in a conference about the issue.

The festival runs from Aug. 17-24 at EBS SPACE, Seoul Museum of History, Art House MOMO and Indie Space in Seoul. The movies will be broadcast via EBS channel on TV as well. For tickets and this year’s full line-up, visit www.eidf.org.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)