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| The organizing committee of the Jeonju International Film Festival holds a press conference in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
The 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF), an annual celebration of indie films, will open later this month after being held online only in 2020 and on a reduced scale in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
JIFF will take place from April 28-May 7 featuring a total of 217 films from 56 countries and 112 of those films will also be available on the festival's online platform. The opening ceremony will be held at the Sori Arts Center in Jeonju.
This year's selection includes 61 world premieres and four international premieres, which include Anders Emblem's Norwegian drama, "A Human Position," Zhan Kai-di's Taiwanese drama, "Raydio," and Hyuga Fumiari's Japanese documentary, "Tokyo Kurds."
"This year's JIFF aims to completely restore the festival's celebratory mood. We are looking at using about five local theaters, 19 screens and 75,000 seats this year," said Jeonju festival director Lee Joon-dong.
"The omicron wave has gripped the country for months, but we will carry out infection prevention measures based on the guidelines set by the city government and medical experts. About 60 international guests and 2,000 Korean guests will visit the JIFF."
This year's event will include a screening program to present the works of renowned director Lee Chang-dong. Under the title "Lee Chang-dong: The Truth of the Invisible," six of his films ― "Green Fish," "Peppermint Candy," "Oasis," "Secret Sunshine," "Poetry" and "Burning" ― will be shown as 4K digitally-restored versions. Lee will unveil "Heartbeat," a short film he directed most recently.
Director Kogonada's sci-fi film, "After Yang," which made its world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival last year, will be the opener at JIFF. He is well known for directing episodes 1, 2, 3 and 7 of the Apple TV+ series, "Pachinko." The French drama, "Full Time," about the struggles of a single mom, will close the festival.
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| Director Yeon Sang-ho speaks during a press conference for the 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
Nine films were chosen for the Korean competition section, including "Mother and Daughter," "The Hill of Secrets" and "When I Sleep."
"Six out of 10 films in the international competition section and seven out of nine in the Korean competition section were helmed by female directors," programmer Chun Jin-su said. "Another striking thing I noticed this year is that there were many entries that touch on the subject of family and love. In the past, there were many movies with social criticism."
Screenwriter-filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho was named the programmer of the "J Special" session. He recommended two of his own films and three others to be shown on big screens, while discussions about cinema with the audience will also take place.
He chose his debut feature animation, "The King of Pigs" (2011), his first live action film "Train to Busan" (2016), David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" (1986), Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Cure" and Shinzo Katayama's "Missing" (2021).
"I chose films that I seek out a lot these days and that I haven't seen in cinemas. I thought it would be a great opportunity myself to get to see them on the big screen," he said.
An homage to female Korean directors and the Taehung Pictures retrospective, commemorating the recently deceased head of the legendary production house, Lee Tae-won, will also take place during the festival.
