My Memories Are a Movie: A Different Kind of Chungjang Festival

By the Gwangju Dong-gu District Office

The Chungjang World Festival of Recollection (추억의 충장축제, or Chunjang Festival) has experienced transformation over the years. The Chungjang Festival is a representative city street festival in Korea and has been held since 2004 with the aim of overcoming the hollowing out of the old downtown Gwangju (Dong-gu) area due to the development of new neighborhoods in the early 2000s. It will be opening Chungjang and Geumnam Streets to Gwangju citizens rather than to traffic.

Reflecting back on the period from the 1970s to the 1990s, this year marks the 19th year of Chungjang Festival, which is now a global event. The street area from Chungjang-ro 4-ga to 5-ga will also be decorated with nostalgic movie art, and empty stores

will be used as cosplay movie spots for dressing up as characters from such movies as Snow White, Spiderman, and Ironman, and the Goblin Alley area (광주광역시 동구 충장로 5가 127-1) will have movie character sculptures installed to provide a variety of attractions and experiences for the citizens.

Located in the east of Gwangju, Dong-gu District hopes that the Chungjang Festival will continue to grow as a festival with active participation from citizens, local artists, and businesses. It is hoped that the festival will revitalize the local economy and enhance the image of Gwangju as a fun city focusing on Korean culture. It will be a festival to “remember”!

The Dong-gu Office is preparing various types of street food, focusing on how the food is provided. Colorful street food stalls and booths will hopefully provide an opportunity to introduce Korean street food and representative foods of Gwangju to the world, and to promote participation of foreign embassies in Korea to introduce their countries’ foods to Gwangju citizens.

Another important part of the Chungjang Festival this year is the Buskers World Cup in Gwangju. Domestic and foreign artists will be participating in this very first of its kind event. The final round of the busking competition will be held on October 17 at the May 18 Democratic Plaza, while preliminary performances will be held at various venues throughout the downtown area.

With world interest in the “Buskers World Cup in Gwangju” program, 539 teams consisting of 1,603 performers from 46 countries have applied. From among thse teams, 120 teams from 25 countries have advanced to the final. Among the overseas participants who made it to the finals, Aancod Abe Zaccarelli from London, England, is participating in this competition as a team with his Korean friend Kim Wang-guk. In 2014, a video of one of his busking performances, singing “One Candle” at Seoul National University Station in Seoul, recorded 5.99 million views on YouTube. Another finalist, Australia’s Malachy, sings the song “Highway,” which was written and composed while on a motorcycle trip from New Mexico, USA, to Vancouver, Canada, planting a message of human unity and camaraderie.

The skills of domestic participants are also competitive. The seven-member Brazilian musical instrument team Primavera arranged the song Anyone with witty lyrics and a samba rhythm to make any listener smile, and they arranged the song Mugunghwa Flower with a guitar and loop station. And Guitaroro has surprised the judges with her excellent song interpretation and performance skills.

Various performances, experiences, and exhibitions are being prepared to reflect this year’s theme “My Memories Are a Movie (A Movie of Memories).” A live music performance by an invited orchestra from Eurasia will hopefully reflect the festival theme, providing the visitors with a unique cultural and artistic experience through movie images and classical performances. It will be performed by an orchestra of 70 people, two ballerinas, four vocalists, and the Dong-gu Choir. It will feature originat sound tracks from 13 films, including Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia, Top Gun, La Boum, and Nella Fantasia.

The theme for this year’s parade is “Unforgettable Movie Scenes,” is expected to be the most anticipated content and most important part of Chungjang Festival. Foreign as well as domestic artists will raise the artistic level of the parade. Plays and performances will also be held so that every generation can reminiscence about their favorite movies. colorful and exciting elements through media art diffraction grating and 3D space utilization such as the ground, exterior walls of buildings, and rooftops. It hopes to attract 5,000 participants from home and abroad. The parade will travel from Suchang Elementary School, past Geumnam Park, to the May 18 Democratic Plaza.

Composed of various stories with a single, realistic theme, the parade will intergate media art, movies, and stunts. Parade preparation will include citizens representing different wards in the Dong-gu area, who will lead from the planning stage to the execution stage through the Parade Creation School.

The parade will include global buskers (teams participating in the Buskers World Cup finals), international cooperation cities, multicultural families and international students, arts paraders (domestic and foreign artists, aerial acrobatics, drones, etc.), citizen paraders, festival paraders of teams from other region governments, campaign paraders, and invited paraders (the Gossaum fight, the Ganggang-sullae dance, the Andong mask dance, etc.).

Photographs by the Gwangju Dong-gu District Office.

Dates: October 13–17, 2022 Venue: May 18 Democratic Plaza, Asia Culture Center, Chungjang Street area, Art Street, and some online activities. Theme: My Memories Are a Movie Program: Official events, parades, exhibitions, performance, culture experiences, contents, etc. Phone: 062-232-1008 Website: https://www.donggu.kr/index.es?sid=c8 Facebook: @chungjangfestival17 Instagram: @chunjang_festival