South Korea’s DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) has appointed former professor and documentarian Chang Hae Rang as its new festival director.
Chang’s term is set for run for three years until February 2026 and he replaces Xangdean Jung, who is also known as an international buyer, distributor and exhibitor.
In a statement, DMZ Docs said Chang’s experience “is expected to contribute greatly to the development of the film festival and the support of the documentary genre, which is seeing production actively taking place in both the TV and film fields.”
It added that his experience as an educator should contribute to the expansion of documentary education and bringing in creatives to the film festival.
DMZ Docs takes place in and around Goyang city, near the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, in Gyeonggi Province. The 15th edition of the festival is set to run September 14-21, with the DMZ Docs Industry programme running September 15-19.
Chang started out at national broadcaster the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) in 1982 as a documentary producer and subsequently rose through the ranks to become director of programming from 2006 to 2008. He was head of the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) from 2017 to 2018, and a professor at Semyung University’s graduate school of journalism from 2019 to 2022.
His credits include investigative programme In-depth 60 Minutes, a flagship show on KBS, as well as historical and environmental specials for the broadcaster.
He directed 2013 feature documentary Moon Glow, which chronicled the first generation of jazz musicians in the Republic of Korea and has served on a judging panel for the Emmys documentary category.
In his leaving speech, outgoing festival director Jung said: “I feel very fortunate to have a great person as the new festival director,” and added he would continue to “help out materially and morally” at DMZ Docs.
Chang expressed his intent to run the festival successfully with the help of Gyeonggi Province and Jung, and added: “I hope we can dream together through documentaries.”
Last year’s DMZ Docs marked its first fully in-person event since the start of the pandemic and screened 137 films from 53 countries, including an international competition element. The festival also runs the DMZ Docs Industry programme, which provides more than $423,000 (KW550m) in support to filmmakers at project stage.
It has quietly been drawing a consistent following from other film festival organisers including from International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and Hot Docs, which each partner with DMZ on awards, as well as potential co-producers, buyers and sellers seeking documentaries from Asia.
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