[Photo &] Ulsan Uljoo World Mountain Film Festival Opens Sept. 18… 11 Quirky Theaters Including ‘Car Camping’ and ‘Tent’ Venues (Press Conference Scene)

A wondrous moment to face film in the embrace of the great outdoors has arrived. The 11th “Ulsan Uljoo World Mountain Film Festival” has confirmed its opening for Sept. 18, and it will showcase 114 works from 35 countries across 11 distinctive screening venues, including “Car Camping Theaters” and “Tent Theaters”.

A 5-day cinematic journey in Yeongnam Alps

The organizing committee of the “Ulsan Uljoo World Mountain Film Festival” held a press conference at the Ulsan City Hall on the 11th and laid out this year’s roadmap. The festival runs for five days from Sept. 18 to 22 at the “Yeongnam Alps Complex Welcome Center”, and this year’s slogan is “Let’s climb together, to the Mountain of Films”. It symbolizes the identity of an offline healing-culture platform that helps restore mind and body in nature, along with an unending spirit of challenge.

When nature becomes the screen… The evolution of an all-senses healing platform

This year, the festival unified all festival spaces under the “Yeongnam Alps Complex Welcome Center” to maximize immersion. The most eye-catching change is the expansion to 11 distinctive screening venues. In addition to the “Car Camping Theater”, there are also “Tent Theater”, “Deck Theater”, and a “Forest Theater” that uses AR glasses, offering a visual and emotional catharsis you can’t experience in the existing screening halls.

The overnight, stay-focused programs aimed at viewers in their 2030s and family groups have also been made more sophisticated. A variety of healing content will draw audiences in, including an evening flea market called “Umppinist Treasure Storage”, singball therapy to find inner peace, nighttime stargazing across the skies of Yeongnam Alps, and unplugged busking.

A cinematic banquet of 114 films from 35 countries… A feast of overwhelming spectacle

The 114 screening titles from 35 countries that will fill this year’s screens are said to have perfectly balanced both buzz and mainstream appeal. The opening film, “K2: Following the Shadow”, projects an overwhelming spectacle of the great outdoors through Bang Ja-myeong Bedrin’s battle to climb one of the world’s most dangerous peaks without oxygen. The closing film, “Still Sailing”, delivers a weighty emotional impact of a challenge that does not fade, with a remarkable sea-adventure account from an elderly man just before his 90th birthday.

Hidden masterworks of “Local Cinema,” unveiled in Korea for the first time

A one-of-a-kind lineup of local cinema expected to prove the festival’s status as a global film event is also drawing attention. “Family Therapy”, a hot title often referred to as “Slovenian Parasite,” which swept major overseas film festivals, and “Kikets” and “Hello, Kikets”, restored works commemorating the 120th anniversary of Slovenian film, will be screened in Korea for the first time. In addition, through cooperation with the Spanish city of Bilbao’s mountain film festival, audiences in Korea will also get their first look at works featuring the deep, distinctive colors of the Basque region—content that can be hard to find in local theaters or on OTT platforms.

The return of living legends and the joining of Uhm Eun-jung, ‘Umppinist’

Hearing firsthand accounts of world-class mountain heroes produced in Korea is the highlight of this festival. After the screening of the film, “Ahn Chi-young”, the team leader who set a world first record for the Himalayas’ “Sat Peak” in its first ascent, and “Kim Young-mi”, the captain who succeeded in a solo crossing of Antarctica without resupply, will communicate directly with audiences. The festival will also open a global mountain-culture exchange, including a special lecture by “Silvo Karo”, a recipient of the “Golden Pickaxe Lifetime Achievement Award,” the Nobel Prize of the mountaineering world, and an AI-era writing talk show by mountain nonfiction writer “Bernadette McDonald”.

For this year’s promotional ambassador, “Umppinist,” who will help publicize the festival, actor “Uhm Eun-jung” has been selected. He said, holding the appointment certificate, “The key word of ‘challenge’ that the festival carries resonates deeply with me as an actor who always follows up on new challenges,” adding, “I’ll step in as the host of the opening ceremony on Sept. 18, meet audiences face to face, and go at it with great anticipation.”

For detailed screening schedules and ticketing information for the 11th “Ulsan Uljoo World Mountain Film Festival”, you can check through the official website.