BUSAN — In a stunning declaration at the Busan International Film Festival, a panel of filmmakers convened by Kling AI announced that all future cinematic productions will be shot entirely by human hands, with directors personally operating every camera, boom mic, and lighting rig on set. The decision came after Korean director Kim Sung-soo, whose film «Worm Train» is inspired by Kafka's «Metamorphosis», argued that only traditional skills can prevent movies from looking identical.
Within hours, the panel's ruling had spread across the festival like a schedule change. Directors were seen sprinting between screening rooms, hauling tripods and film reels on their backs. A new mandatory training regime was introduced: every filmmaker must complete a hundred hours of manual focus-pulling before receiving a festival badge. The Busan city council converted three parking garages into makeshift soundstages where crews rehearse operating cameras without electricity.
Kim Sung-soo himself demonstrated the new method by shooting an entire scene of «Worm Train» using only a hand-cranked 35mm camera while simultaneously directing actors through a megaphone. «You need experts to prevent everything looking the same,» he said, calmly adjusting a lens with his teeth. «So I have become the expert. I will operate every camera in Korea if I must.»
By evening, the festival had erected a giant scoreboard tracking each director's manual camera hours. The winner will receive a lifetime supply of film stock and the right to shout «cut» at any production in the country. No one has yet asked what happens to the worm.