'Where Is the Home of Animals?'... Seoul Animal Film Festival Opens on October 19

The Animal Rights Action Kara (hereinafter Kara) announced on the 23rd that the 6th Seoul Animal Film Festival (SAFF) will be held for 5 days from October 9 to 23.

This year, more than 50 domestic and international feature and short films will be screened at the Seoul Animal Film Festival, which will be held simultaneously online and offline at Megabox Hongdae and the online screening platform Poplay.

In the competitive program ‘SAFF Short Film Competition,’ 685 entries from 84 countries were submitted this year. The festival stated, "This is a significant increase from 102 entries from 25 countries last year," adding, "We were able to encounter more diverse and profound reflections and challenges in terms of themes and formats."

The 22 finalists will be nominated for the Best Film Award and Audience Award, each with prize money of 5 million KRW and 2 million KRW respectively.

This year’s festival slogan is ‘Where is the Home of Animals?’ Kara explained the selection background, saying, “In modern society, animals embark on journeys to find their own homes by escaping human-made zoos and breeding farms or adapting to unfamiliar cities. We focus on the stories of animals who have lost their homes and become refugees, seeking answers to the question ‘Where should animals belong?’”

The Seoul Animal Film Festival started in 2018 as the Kara Animal Film Festival and changed its name last year. The festival explained, "During the selection process, we examine whether the animals participated in the films under safe conditions and enjoyed appropriate welfare."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.