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Mayor Park Heong-joon Visits New Cultural Facilities in West Busan Ahead of the Opening of the West Busan Cinema Center on December 17

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Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that today (the 17th), he will visit new cultural facilities in West Busan in sequence: the Museum of Contemporary Art Rooftop Restaurant (a complex cultural space), the Nakdong Art Center (a performance venue), and the West Busan Cinema Center (a video media facility).

This visit has been arranged to inspect preparations ahead of several major milestones: the opening of the West Busan Cinema Center, a key hub for the expansion of video culture and balanced regional development; the completion of the Museum of Contemporary Art Rooftop Restaurant, a new type of complex cultural space combining art and gastronomy; and the upcoming opening of the Nakdong Art Center, a core performance facility for West Busan scheduled to open in January next year.

Mayor Park will first visit the Museum of Contemporary Art Rooftop Restaurant at 1:40 p.m., where he will receive a briefing on preparations for welcoming visitors early next year and encourage efforts to make the facility available to citizens as soon as possible. At 2:10 p.m., he will then move to the Nakdong Art Center, the first classical concert hall in the West Busan area. After listening to a briefing on opening preparations at the concert hall and ensemble theater, he will express support for the successful launch of the Nakdong Art Center Opening Festival and request that the center play a central role in revitalizing culture and the arts in West Busan. Finally, at 3:00 p.m., he will attend the opening ceremony of the West Busan Cinema Center, a video media cultural complex for the West Busan region.

The West Busan Cinema Center, which officially opens today (the 17th), is located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Gangseo Open Cultural Center and has a total floor area of 1,523 square meters. Designed for the era of one-person media, the center allows free participation across genres, including video production, education, screenings, and community activities.

The center was constructed by Busan Metropolitan City and is operated under consignment by the Busan Cinema Center, which is expected to enable high-quality content production support and the operation of professional education programs. Major facilities include a cinema (Modu Theater) where citizens can watch and share media content, a video production studio equipped for high-quality video and audio recording, one-person media rooms for individual creators and independent producers, and professional editing suites with the latest filming and editing equipment.

Through the opening of the West Busan Cinema Center, Busan Metropolitan City expects to reduce cultural disparities for residents of West Busan, expand communication and participation through media, and make a significant contribution to the spread of citizen-led media culture. The opening ceremony will be held today (the 17th) at 3:00 p.m. at the Modu Theater on the 2nd floor of the West Busan Cinema Center at the Gangseo Open Cultural Center, with approximately 100 attendees, including the Mayor, city council members, the head of Gangseo-gu, representatives of related organizations, and local residents of West Busan.

The ceremony will feature a screening of a highlight documentary about the center, congratulatory videos from well-known influencers and citizens, a session titled “A Conversation with Artificial Intelligence (AI),” and a guided tour of the major facilities. In particular, during the AI conversation segment, Mayor Park will ask the AI to analyze the current state of Busan’s cultural environment using various cultural indicators and to discuss how the future of Busan’s cultural landscape may change with the planned expansion of large-scale cultural facilities such as the Busan Opera House.

Meanwhile, the West Busan Cinema Center will host an opening film festival simultaneously with its launch, offering a wide range of programs for local residents, including film screenings, audience talks, and special lectures. The opening film festival will run for one month, from December 17, 2025, to January 17, 2026, and will be free of charge. During December, special media-related lectures will also be offered free of charge for participants ranging from elementary school students to senior citizens. From January 2026, the center plans to operate a variety of regular programs, including screenings of art and independent films, education programs on film production and YouTube channel operation, and rental services for high-quality media facilities and equipment.

Mayor Park is expected to say, “The West Busan Cinema Center will serve as a creative platform that addresses the cultural needs of citizens in the West Busan area, where media infrastructure has long been lacking,” adding, “By centering on cultural facilities in West Busan, such as the soon-to-open Nakdong Art Center, we will closely connect cultural infrastructure across Busan so that all citizens can enjoy high-quality culture in their everyday lives.”

For more information:

• ●West Busan Cinema Center website: https://wbusan.dureraum.org

• ●Museum of Contemporary Art website: https://www.busan.go.kr/moca/index

• ●Nakdong Art Center website: https://www.bsgangseo.go.kr/nac/main.do