Leading Korean exhibitor CJ CGV is establishing a specialty films team and expanding its “Movie Collage” arthouse film programme from seven to ten screens.

“Movie Collage was engendered with the aim to expand the base for diversity films and to unearth talented new filmmakers,” said Joyce H. Cho, manager of the specialty films team, noting that it has the advantage of a highly accessible nationwide multiplex chain.

CJ CGV sponsors festivals such as the Cinema Digital Seoul (CinDi) festival and the Pusan International Film Festival, where it selects a film to pick up for local distribution. Previous films distributed under the scheme include Eric Khoo’s Be With Me and Ning Hao’s Crazy Stone.

It also hands out the CJ CGV Korean Film Distribution Support Award at the Jeonju International Film Festival, which includes a minimum two weeks of screenings and marketing support. This year’s winner was Bandhobi, directed by Shin Dong-il (My Friend And His Wife), which also won the Audience Award.

The exhibitor also previously ran a production support programme which granted $355,000 (KW440m) to 24 low-budget indie films such as Yang Ik-june’s Rotterdam award winner Breathless and Kim Myung-joon’s documentary Our School.

The current Movie Collage slate of films includes Boat, starring Ha Jung-woo, and Hong Sang-soo’s Like You Know It All. Other upcoming titles include the Dardenne brothers’ The Silence Of Lorna, Jeon Soo-il’s Himalaya, Where The Wind Dwells and Yaguchi Shinobu’s Happy Flight.

Topics