To be more precise, this is what Cinema Street looked like--the festival's main street, in effect. Traffic is blocked off, and crowds wander up and down to get to the street's two main theaters, and to the festival's central plaza (which holds the press center, the video screening room, the much appreciated free coffee cafe, the outdoor concert hall / outdoor movie theater, the homoerotic statues). I talked about the festival grounds (and the food--Jeonju is a major culinary center of Korea) before here.
Stickers and posters of the festival were everywhere, including every business on Cinema Street; the streets were closed off for a week. Jeonju supports its festival big time.
Im Kwon Taek, standing between Festival Vice Director An cha Flubacher-Rhim and actor Jo Jae-hyeon, and introducing his 100th film Beyond the Years. Maybe my biggest frustration during the festival was failing to pin Mr. Im down for a picture with me. Ah, well, his loss...
One of the volunteers; his name is Bruce Lee. No, really, it is. Well, anyway, it's what he tells foreigners his name is, because it's much easier to remember, and the resemblance is uncanny (it is, isn't it? I think so).
Now, to the left was this really nice guy named Gilbert, a Belgian that's been living in Korea now for some years, has a Korean girlfriend, and speaks the language like a native (mighty useful when you needed a translator on hand). Like all great bartenders, has a real gift for listening (he was the barista at the free guests' cafe for most of the festival--makes a mean expresso, too). Then on the last day of the festival I learn that his name was really Gregory--and all that time I kept calling him Gilbert, not once did he correct me! I don't know whether to be flattered, offended, or skeptical.
The other guy I haven't the slightest idea who he is.
A pansori singer and his drummer, which couldn't help but remind me of Im Kwon Taek's Beyond the Years. From what I understand watching the film, the relatonship between singer and drummer can be professional, adversarial (which means the singing will suffer) or as intimate as between a husband and his wife; two men who've been friends since childhood; a police officer and his partner; two veteran soldiers standing side-by-side in battle. I don't know about these two, but they certainly performed as if they'd been doing it for years.
