VR Film Highlighting Poet Yoon Dong-ju to Screen at Venice Film Festival

Invitation to the Immersive Category, Introducing Our Cultural Heritage through Digital Technology

The Cultural Heritage Administration and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation announced on the 28th that the virtual reality (VR) film "The Poet's Room," which highlights poet Yun Dong-ju, has been invited to the immersive category of the 79th Venice International Film Festival. The immersive category, established in 2017, expanded the VR section to extended reality (XR). This year, thirty so-called "immersive films" will be screened.

"The Poet's Room" is a work created to promote our cultural heritage. It is composed as a historical fiction that crosses the boundary between dreams and reality. The protagonist is poet Yun Dong-ju. The film unfolds by intertwining nine poems with dreams and reflections. It also showcases the nationally registered cultural heritage items, the "Yun Dong-ju handwritten manuscript" and "Pinson Hall at Yonsei University in Seoul."

The production involved director Koo Beom-seok, who created the "Parasite" VR, and director Yang Jeong-ung, who directed the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Actor Lee Sang-yoon provided the voice acting for poet Yun Dong-ju. Kim Ki-sam, head of the Cultural Heritage Content Office at the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, stated, "This will be an opportunity to naturally introduce our cultural heritage to the world through Korea's digital technology."