The DMZ Docs Forum, which addresses various issues such as documentary aesthetics, support policies, copyright, social roles, and producers' livelihoods, is being newly introduced. This is a stepping stone for the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, which has grown over the past 16 years with its screening programs and DMZ Docs Industry as its two main pillars, to take another leap forward. As a practical task for this year's slogan, "Act Out for Friendship and Solidarity," five forum themes have been set, creating a discourse space with participation from experts in various fields, including documentary production. We have established a principle of collaborating with those active in the documentary production field as much as possible, from issue discovery and planning to inviting presenters and discussants. As with the preparation process, the forum during the festival period will be an open discussion platform where creators and audiences can freely express their opinions without formality.
By presenting discourses surrounding the aesthetics and practices of Korean documentaries, we gauge the possibilities of archive documentary aesthetics through a public forum on the potential expansion of documentaries.
We examine the concept and cases of fair use of copyrighted works related to documentary production and review the direction of institutionalization necessary for documentary creative activities.
We share the current status of contemporary media activism and explore the connection and solidarity between documentary activism and civil society movements.
We explore the production field's reactions and response strategies to recent trends in changes to documentary production support projects and the reduction of public broadcasting documentary program scheduling.
We share the difficulties experienced by Korean documentary creators and seek solidarity measures to survive together in a sustainable documentary ecosystem.