K-Arts and Kazak National Academy of Arts Premiere Collaborative Documentary Films 

A co-production documentary film by young artists from South Korea and Kazakhstan had its premiere. The film was an outcome of the project to celebrate the mutual cultural exchange between South Korea and Kazakhstan from 2022 to 2023. Co-organized by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), School of Film, TV & Multimedia of K-Arts, and the Kazak National Academy of Arts, the project aimed to discover sustainable exchange programs between the two countries. As a part of the project, the young artists sought to cooperate to make the documentary films from the planning to the final stages of the production.

From July to November, the students of the K-Arts and The Kazak National Academy of Arts co-produced four short documentary films on the time of diaspora and exchange of spaces, K-Apple-Q, Die-Yard, Track_Ing, A Sprout of a Cherry. The K-Arts and The Kazak National Academy of Arts both are the representative film education institutions of their countries. Overall, the production was led by Prof. Jeon Gyuchan and Prof. Kang Sangwoo, both from the Department of Broadcasting at the K-Arts School of Film, TV & Multimedia together with Prof. Banu Ramazanova and Prof. Zhanana Kurmasheva of the Kazak Academy of Arts.

At the premiere which took place on the Seokgwan-dong campus of the K-Arts did introduce the following films that explored the undivided time and space across Korea and Kazakhstan: a film about an apple that disappeared in Almaty, Kazakhstan (K-Apple-Q), about dancer Anna Choi who is an ethnic Korean in the post-Soviet states (Die-Yard), about a train that runs between Korea and Kazakhstan (Track_Ing), about cherry sprouts in a village in Ushtobe, Kazakhstan (A Sprout of a Cherry). The films were currently under planning to be aired to the audience in both countries.

Prof. Jeon Gyuchan, a director of the project, stated, “For young filmmakers, it was arduous and difficult to co-produce documentary films with coworkers from different cultural backgrounds who speak different languages. Still, it was a precious exchange experience for them to learn and understand each other’s countries as they filled in the blanks along their way with stories.”