ARC Joins ICFR Call:

Drop All Charges Against Jung Yoon-suk Now!

The ICFR calls on the film community to sign the petition in support of Jung Yoon-Suk, appealing his unjust conviction and facing a prison sentence on December 24.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

19 December 2025

(AMSTERDAM | NEW YORK) – In the last days of 2025, ARC joins the ICFR in calling upon the global film community to take a stand and sign the petition in support of South Korean filmmaker and ICFR colleague Jung Yoon-suk. As reported in the original campaign, Jung Yoon-suk sought to document the civil riots outside Seoul’s Western District Court last January, as is his custom as a documentary filmmaker — but in the eyes of the Korean court, this has been deemed “aggravated trespassing”. Jung Yoon-suk and his legal team are appealing the original verdict and the one-year prison sentence now requested by prosecutors; the new judgment will be delivered on December 24.

Jung Yoon-suk’s case has been drawing the attention of the Korean and international film industry. Earlier this year, the Korean cultural sector spoke strongly in support of their colleague, citing a fear that such a sentencing would form a dangerous precedent for the status of filmmakers and artists attempting to document the country’s lived realities. The petition at the time was signed by a wide range of cultural figures and institutions, including director Park Chan-wook, the Association of Korean Independent Film & Video (KIFV), and the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

Jung Yoon-suk and his legal team are currently appealing the unjust conviction handed down at first instance last summer, in which he was sentenced to a fine of 2 million KRW, despite the absence of any thorough investigation or interview. At the appellate hearing, prosecutors requested a one-year prison sentence for Jung Yoon-suk. On December 24, the court will reach its new verdict.

According to Jung Yoon-suk’s legal team, the court ruling this summer claimed that filming the civil riots “did not constitute a ‘justifiable act’“, and went on to state that “an artist, unlike the press, does not serve the public interest“. As part of their appeal, which asserts that there is an error in the application of the law in Jung Yoon-suk’s case, the legal team goes on to share with the ICFR that “to the best of our knowledge, there has been no precedent in South Korea [that] a documentary filmmaker has been ultimately convicted and punished for filming the assemblies [of civilian protesters]“.

Jung Yoon-suk’s films have revolved around such real-life topics as the Zijonpa clan case. His debut feature, Non-Fiction Diary, was invited to screen at the Berlinale International Film Festival. From 2013-2017, Jung Yoon-suk was blacklisted and surveilled by the Park Geun-hye administration’s National Intelligence Services for his incisive, socially engaged activities. Despite this authoritarian pressure, Jung Yoon-suk managed to finish his film Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno, which went on to premiere at the 2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

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We, the undersigned,

stand with Jung Yoon-suk in appealing the verdicts and charged levelled against him.

His actions constitute those of a documentary filmmaker concerned with his community and his culture, and to criminalize such activities would create a dangerous precedent for filmmakers and artists in South Korea.

We urge the Korean authorities to drop all charges against Jung Yoon-suk immediately.

Signed by:

• The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk
• International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
• International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
• MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg
• Freemuse
• ARC — Artists at Risk Connection
• FERA — Federation of European Screen Directors
• Austrian Directors Guild/Verband Filmregie Österreich
• IDA — International Documentary Association
• Docu Athan
• Sydney Film Festival
• DOCA — Documentary Association Georgia
• Altyazı Fasikül: Free Cinema
• KIFV — Association of Korean Independent Film & Video
• Acadèmia del Cinema Català
• FACE — Federation of Film Academies Europe
• …

…as well as by all the signatories who’ve added their signature directly to this petition.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Adam Shapiro
Deputy Director, Programs
ARC – Artists at Risk Connection
+1 202-294-8813