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Korea Festival 2019 ready to lure visitors with K-pop culture, films
The annual event is to feature performances, foods and exhibitions, as well as offline and online activities, especially for those who live outside Greater Jakarta.
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A still from 'Parasite'. The film will be screened at the 2019 Korea Indonesia Film Festival. (CJ Entertainment/File)
This year's Korea Festival (K-Festival) is to be held from Oct. 1 to Nov. 11 in several locations.
The annual event is to feature performances, foods and exhibitions, as well as offline and online activities, especially for those who live outside Greater Jakarta.
The following are some activities visitors can expect to do at the festival:
Enjoy Korean and Indonesian films
From Oct. 10 to 13, moviegoers in Indonesia would be able to watch curated Korean and Indonesian films as part of the 2019 Korea Indonesia Film Festival (KIFF).
KOREA INDONESIA FILM FESTIVAL 2019 akan hadir di Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, & Medan. Pantau terus social media @FestFilmKorea untuk update selanjutnya. pic.twitter.com/1k2etmBBdc
— #KIFF2019 (@FestFilmKorea) September 30, 2019
Held by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Indonesia and run by the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) Indonesia alongside a movie theater chain, CGV Cinemas, this year’s KIFF is to start with an open-to-the-public pre-event show screening the 2011 drama-comedy film Sunny and its Indonesian adaptation Bebas (Free) on Oct. 9 at CGV Grand Indonesia in Central Jakarta.
In total, KIFF 2019 is to screen 15 Korean and five Indonesian movies, including action flick The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos, drama-crime Tazza: The One-eyed Jack, Bebas, action-comedy Extreme Job, drama Dua Garis Biru (Two Blue Stripes), drama-thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil and Bong Joon-ho’s drama-mystery-comedy Parasite that won the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Besides screening films, KIFF is to also feature Movie Talk sessions when members of the audience can discuss a movie with the actors or filmmakers after the screening.
Rahmi Kurniasih, operation planning and support cinema improvement analyst at CGV Cinemas, said that a guest star would be attending the festival’s opening event.
“We’ll present Kang So-ra, the main cast member in Sunny in 2011, Race to Freedom: Um Bok Dong in 2019 and other dramas,” Rahmi told a press conference on Friday in South Jakarta.
KIFF is to be held in selected CGV theaters, such as CGV Grand Indonesia in Central Jakarta, CGV Paris van Java in Bandung, West Java, CGV Jwalk in Yogyakarta, CGV Marvell City in Surabaya, East Java, and CGV Focal Point in Medan, North Sumatra.
Tickets to the film screenings cost Rp 15,000 (US$1.06) and can only be purchased at the theater’s ticket counters.
Watch K-pop, cultural performances
This year’s K-Festival offers various performances ranging from cultural, sports and K-pop.
A total of 16 K-pop groups and musicians are to perform on Oct. 19 and 20 at Istora Senayan, South Jakarta. Among the scheduled performers are The Rose, Taemin, Epik High, Akdong Musician or Akmu, Apink and Kim Jong-kook.
Tickets to the show are currently available for purchase at tiket.com with prices starting at Rp 700,000.
Read also: South Korea to temporarily waive visa application fee for Indonesians
Moreover, a non-verbal performance named FLYING is also to be staged in Indonesia for the first time on Oct. 16 and 17 at Ciputra Artpreneur Theater, South Jakarta. Said to combine gymnastics, martial arts and b-boying, FLYING tells about Korean warrior Hwarang and monster Dokkaebi from the Silla Dynasty who time-travel and arrive in a senior high school in the 21st century. The show is freely accessible for the public, excluding children below 7 years old, but online reservations in advance are required from ilotte.com.
Other events that shouldn’t be missed are the K-Content Expo 2019 from Oct. 3 to 6 at Central Park Mall, West Jakarta, which features a mini concert and fan-meeting with K-Pop idol IN2IT and a fan-meeting with the creators of digital comics Que Sera Sera and Pacar si Otaku (My Boyfriend is Otaku). Also on offer are the Best K-Pop Cover in Indonesia on Oct. 19 and 20 at Istora Senayan, South Jakarta, the 2019 Asia Taekwondo Handmadang Championship on Oct. 26 and 27 at GOR POPKI in Cibubur, East Jakarta, and the Asia Traditional Orchestra on Nov. 11 at Balai Sarbini, South Jakarta.
Marvel at the exhibitions
The K-Festival 2019 also invites visitors to get a deeper perspective into Korean culture by attending several exhibitions.
Among the events are the Follow Gyeonggi Culture and Tourism Exhibition on Oct. 19 and 20 at Istora Senayan, South Jakarta, which features information about Gyeonggi Province, the DICAPOEM Exhibition from Oct. 19 to 25 at Lotte Shopping Avenue, South Jakarta, which displays artworks using the dicapoem technique that combines digital camera images and five-line poems, and the Jakarta International Premium Products Fair 2019 from Nov. 7 to 9 at Hall A and B of Jakarta Convention Center, South Jakarta. (kes)
