October 16-17 'Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival' Held Online and Offline
October 22 'Incheon Fantasy Convention'... Overseas Guests Conduct Virtual Lectures
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale festivals and events held in Incheon will be conducted in an untact (non-face-to-face) format.
The country's representative rock festival, which annually features numerous famous overseas artists, will be broadcast live online for the first time this year, and events involving overseas guests such as Weta Workshop will be replaced with virtual lectures.
According to Incheon City on the 6th, the 15th Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival will be held both online and offline simultaneously on October 16-17 at Songdo Moonlight Festival Park.
The festival, usually held every August, has been postponed to October this year to prioritize the safety of attendees amid COVID-19 and has introduced an untact performance format.
While delivering a message of overcoming COVID-19 with the rock spirit of resistance, the festival will also hold a gratitude concert inviting citizens, medical staff, and volunteers who have contributed to overcoming the pandemic. Notably, the festival will be live-streamed online for the first time in its history while being held both online and offline.
The organizers plan to feature top domestic artists as overseas artists face difficulties entering the country. Detailed lineups will be announced sequentially after mid-month.
The Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival was designated as a promising festival by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for eight consecutive years from 2012 to 2019 and was selected as a Korean cultural tourism festival in 2020 and 2021.
A representative of the Pentaport Rock Festival said, "We will successfully carry out the first-ever simultaneous online and offline event to continue the festival’s reputation as Incheon’s representative music festival," adding, "We hope this festival will bring hope and comfort to citizens tired and struggling due to COVID-19."
The 'Incheon Fantasy Convention 2020,' held from the 22nd to the 29th in the Songdo International City area, will also minimize face-to-face events involving citizens and focus on programs for experts.
The event is hosted by Incheon City and co-organized by the Incheon Film Commission, Weta Workshop, and Film Forge to discover and nurture future content and provide experiences with future technologies.
Among the programs, the 'Weta Fantasy Academy' educates on the process of visualizing concept designs based on imagination into concrete video. It will cover the entire process from hand-drawn sketches to their appearance on the movie screen through CG or VFX (special visual or visual effects).
Mentors include Sir Richard Taylor, founder of Weta Workshop, Creative Art Director Gino Acevedo, and Kim Namsik, CEO of domestic VFX company Madman Post. However, due to COVID-19, classes with Weta Workshop mentors will be conducted via video connection with New Zealand.
An SF fantasy conference will also be held, featuring overseas guests such as Hollywood motion capture expert John Root, who produced "Star Wars: The Mandalorian," and Alasdair Cool, head of Weta Workshop’s Virtual Studio, participating via video connection. To comply with quarantine rules, the number of attendees per conference is limited to 65, and advance registration is required on the website.
Cultural programs for citizens will be held outdoors in open spaces to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
On the 28th, at the Songdo Artfore Waterfront Road, a CineMusic concert performing film music OSTs and screenings of two works from the cinematic drama 'SF8,' "Astronaut Joan" and "Blink," followed by audience discussions, are scheduled.
On the 29th, a special screening commemorating the 20th anniversary of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" will be held at Songdo Artfore Waterfront Road and Jung-gu Sangsang Platform Drive-in Theater.
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