Anchor: The 15th annual Gwangju International Film Festival (GIFF) kicked off Thursday for a five-day run. Organizers are hoping audiences will turn out in droves as the event, under the theme “Asia’s Light and Peace,” will feature films from around the globe, including one from actor-turned-director Tommy Lee Jones.
Our Park Jong-hong has the story.
 
Report: The 15th annual Gwangju International Film Festival kicked off in front of the May 18 Democracy Plaza at the future site of the Asian Culture Complex in Gwangju on Thursday.
 
Popular stars such as Cho Jae-hyon, Kim Young-ho and Kang Ye-won took to the red carpet for the festival, which will run through May 18, featuring some 100 films from 31 countries. 
 
Russian director Alexander Kott’s wordless Soviet-era love-story, Test, opened the festival. The film tells the tale of a couple who fall in love amid the first nuclear bomb experiments in an utterly remote corner of the USSR.
 
As special picks for the film fest, movies Two Homelands, One Love: Lee Jung-seop’s Wife, Fiddlesticks and Gemma Bovery will grace the silver screen.
 
Other highlights include The Homesman by globally renowned actor-turned-director Tommy Lee Jones and the 2014 Brazilian thriller Chess Game.
 
On the sidelines will be special screenings and diverse events promoting the Korean and Chinese film industries.
 
The festival's director, Yeom Jeong-ho, said a forum will be held discussing specific cases of Korea-China joint film productions. Based on the forum he expects to push for signing a memorandum of understanding.
 
The Gwangju International Film Festival has previously been held in the fall, but this year, the schedule was pushed forward to May.
 
Organizers hope the new schedule will help attracted larger audiences, as previous years’ festivals have seen theaters only about half full.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.