KAFA expands professional education for the AI and digital cinema era — 330 hours, 720 participants across three program tracks

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC, Chairperson Han Sang-jun) and its Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA, President Cho Geun-sik) will launch the 2026 KAFA+ Filmmaker Training Program on Wednesday, June 17. Operating under the new vision of "AI and Digital Cinema Workflow-Based Practical Filmmaker Training," this year's program runs a total of 330 hours for 720 participants. The curriculum has been significantly restructured to strengthen the practical competencies of working film professionals and equip them to respond proactively to the rapidly evolving film industry landscape.

The KAFA+ Filmmaker Training Program is an expanded and restructured iteration of the former "Working Filmmaker Training" program, which had been offered as a continuing education initiative for industry practitioners. It is a comprehensive, integrated training program encompassing job-specific specialized education across all sectors of the film industry, as well as instruction in emerging film technologies and global trends. The curriculum has been refined annually to reflect the needs of enrollees and the demands of the industry, and the program has established itself as the leading professional education offering for Korean filmmakers, consistently achieving high participation rates and satisfaction scores.

This year, the program will be managed by the Industry-University Cooperation Foundation of Chung-Ang University — one of Korea's foremost convergence research and education hubs. In collaboration with Chung-Ang University's Graduate School of Advanced Imaging Science, Multimedia and Film, the program will strengthen its curriculum in cutting-edge film technologies including AI and virtual production. Building on a broad educational infrastructure and extensive industry network, the program aims to deliver a higher level of specialized and systematic training.

The program runs from June through December across three tracks: the Regular Program, Specialized Program, and Special Program. Eligible participants range from early-career filmmakers with less than one year of experience in the film and moving image industry to working and experienced professionals with credits on released films. The faculty comprises more than 36 active industry professionals, including directors, producers, cinematographers, and AI film specialists.

The Regular Program provides step-by-step, role-specific instruction for digital cinema production practice, with each discipline also incorporating practical AI applications for on-set use. Beginning with the Planning and Directing Fundamentals course on June 17, job-specific modules covering production, screenwriting, cinematography and lighting, production sound, and production design will be offered sequentially across two phases: Step 1 (June–July) and Step 2 (August–October). The program aims not merely to develop technical skills but to build integrated practical competencies — enabling participants to understand the full digital cinema workflow and select the optimal production approach for any given situation.

The Specialized Program focuses on capacity-building in areas essential to navigating a changing film industry environment, including AI technology application, global competency development, and ESG education. The AI Technology Application course, with the goal of having participants produce their own AI-created short films, runs from July through September in two levels — foundational and advanced — each consisting of six sessions. The Global Competency course is offered once a month from June through November, for a total of six sessions. Through instruction on international co-production strategy and regional production landscapes including China and Southeast Asia, the program supports working filmmakers in building concrete capabilities for entering overseas markets. The ESG component includes courses on eco-friendly film production (August) and labor management in the film industry (October), aimed at preparing filmmakers for sustainable production practices.

Seven key courses within the Specialized Program — including the Global Competency and ESG modules — will be simultaneously produced as online content, enabling access free from time and location constraints. The Convergence & Collaboration track, a field-based program, will offer hands-on training at the facilities of companies that actively deploy virtual production and AI technologies. In addition, masterclasses, forums, and seminars will provide a platform for in-depth discussion of current industry issues.

The Special Program, designed for filmmakers based outside the Seoul metropolitan area, runs from July through October. It has been established to support professional development for regional filmmakers and to activate local film and moving image production, and is expected to contribute to broadening the growth base for film talent beyond the capital-centric structure of the industry.

President Cho Geun-sik stated: "This year's KAFA+ Filmmaker Training Program is focused not merely on technical skill acquisition but on producing filmmakers capable of designing and executing effective production strategies within AI-driven and global production environments. Through the expertise of the Industry-University Cooperation Foundation of Chung-Ang University, we will deliver the highest level of education — bridging theory, cutting-edge technology, and the production floor — and take Korean cinema's sustainability and global competitiveness to the next level."

Detailed schedules and application information are available on the KAFA official website (https://www.kafa.ac) under the "KAFA+ Filmmaker Training Program" section. Specific program details are subject to change depending on operational circumstances.