Pulled from Theaters in Less Than A Month... Audiences Join Forces to Keep Them Playing Longer

[Anchor]

There is an ongoing movement called "Slow Cinema," aimed at allowing people to enjoy good films in theaters for a longer period of time. It is a grassroots movement where movie fans themselves step up to spread and share meaningful independent films.

Reporter Lee Joo-hyoung has the details.

[Reporter]

Unearthing hidden modern history,

[Then we have no choice but to fight with our lives on the line.]

Looking back at the lives of a composer and lyricist couple who wrote immortal masterpieces,

[When everyone hears it, they will say, "This is the song, this is my song."]

Paying attention to teenagers whom society often overlooks,

[Can I learn welding here?]

[Use this to protect your eyes from now on.]

These are entertaining and meaningful independent films that were released last autumn.

Unlike blockbuster films like "Odyssey," these movies, which serve as the salt and light of our society, disappear even from the few theaters screening them sparsely within two to three weeks of release.

[Park Bong-nam / Director of "Sabuk 1980": Completing a film is possible through the tenacity and effort of the director and production team, but theatrical screening is completely unrelated to our capabilities...]

Films that took years of painstaking effort to make are wrapping up their runs without ever truly seeing the light of day.

To change this reality, filmmakers and audiences have stepped forward.

It is called the "Slow Cinema" movement.

It is a call for filmmakers and audiences to unite so that good movies can be watched in theaters for a long time.

It is a method where audiences who watch a film and want to share it with others sponsor and rent out theaters for screenings.

[Yang Hee / Director of "What the Wind Tells": After the official run ended, there were about 60 rental screenings, and most of them sold out completely. We are meeting audiences truly slowly.]

On the 2nd, a screening of "The Second Semester of the 3rd Year" was held at the request of specialized high school students, inviting even adults,

[Kim Hye-jin / Audience member: The emotional impact of the movie was so huge that I wanted it to be available right in my neighborhood, and because I thought it would be good for specialized high school students to watch together, I'm preparing a screening.]

At a theater in Seoul, a "Slow Cinema Day" event was held, featuring three films back-to-back.

The production teams of the three films are determined not to hand them over to OTT platforms until at least the end of the year, continuing their slow theatrical run.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News) (Video Journalist: Kim Hyun-sang, Video Editor: So Ji-hye, Designer: Seo Seung-hyun, VJ: Oh Se-kwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.