By Yoon Sojung

Videos = YouTube accounts of Jeonju International Film Festival & Busan International Short Film Festival

The subsiding of the COVID-19 pandemic is leading to the return of domestic film festivals. 

From non-contact to in-person events, these events are regaining their previous forms through programs held outside as well as inside.

Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province, and Busan are starting things off for movie fans in the country.
From April 27 to May 6, the 24th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) will be held under the theme "Beyond the Frame."

A combined 247 films -- 30 more than last year -- from 42 countries will be screened, with 66 making their world premieres. Thirty-eight domestic works will also be shown on the festival's online media platform ONFIFN (www.onfifn.com).

Unlike past editions held mostly on Jeonju Film Street in the city's Wansan-gu District, the festival this year features more outdoor and alley screenings over about a month that started two weeks before the opening to allow visitors to Jeonju to experience the festive air throughout the city. In line with the city's project Culture City of East Asia, the event "Focus: East Asian Films Now" screens new movies from Korea, China and Japan.

This year's opening ceremony will be held at Sori Arts Center in Deokjin-gu District and the closing ceremony on May 6 at Chonbuk National University Samsung Cultural Center. Previous festivals had Jeonju Dome hosting both ceremonies. 

The opening film, "Tori and Lokita" directed by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne of Belgium, shows a friendship between a young boy and a girl who leave Africa without adults and undergo hardship as immigrants in Belgium. The closing film, "Where Would You Like to Go" by director Kim Hee-jung, is the story of a woman whose husband, a middle school teacher, dies in a sudden accident.

The opening ceremony is slated for April 27 at 6:30 p.m. at Sori's Moak Hall, with the red carpet event hosted by actors Jin Goo and Gong Seung-yeon. Tickets for both ceremonies went on sale from April 12 and those for works in other categories from April 14. 

Tickets can be purchased from the festival's official website (www.jeonjufest.kr) and app. Unsold tickets are available at on-site ticket offices near event venues during the festival.

The 24th Jeonju International Film Festival runs from April 27 to May 6. The top photo is from the opening film "Tori and Lokita" and the bottom is from the closing work "Where Would You Like to Go?" (JIFF)

From April 25 to May 1 in Busan, the 40th Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) will be held under the theme "Cinema and Heritage" at Busan Cinema Center (BCC) and BNK Busan Bank Art Cinema Corner Theater in the Gwangbokdong neighborhood of Jung-gu District. 

A total of 146 movies from 39 countries will be screened at the festival. The U.S. is the country of honor at this year's event, so 14 well-known shorts will be shown starring two key figures in early American cinema: actor and director Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) and director Buster Keaton (1895-1966). 

On April 25, the opening ceremony was held at Haneulyeon Theatre of BCC at 7 p.m. with the three opening films being from the U.S.: "Kid Auto Races at Venice" directed by Henry Lehrman (1886-1946); "How Do You Measure a Year?" by Jay Rosenblatt; and "Field" by ARC.

To mark the event's 40th anniversary, a screening exhibition features award-winning shorts from the festival's previous editions and other prestigious international film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Visitors to BCC's outdoor theater can also watch shorts there.

Tickets for the opening and general screening films are available from the BCC website and mobile banking app of BNK Busan Bank. Those for the closing ceremony are available online. More information is available on the festival's official website (www.bisff.org/kor). 

BISFF is the only film festival in Asia selected by the U.S. Movie Maker Magazine this month as one of "50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee." 

In the capital, the 16th Seoul International Senior Film Festival (SISFF) from May 11-15 will be held under the theme "Restoring Daily Life, Coexistence of Past and Present" at Daehan Cinema in the city's Jung-gu District. Designed to raise understanding of elderly people and their lives, this year's edition has 462 entries including 154 from overseas. Twenty-six domestic works were selected for the Korean short category and 22 from abroad for the international  short category. 

From June 1-7, the 20th Seoul International Eco Film Festival (SIEFF) will be held at Megabox Seongsu and streamed on the event's official website. Marking its 20th anniversary, SIEFF is among three eco film festivals in the world along with the Environmental Film Festival in Washington and the Cinemambiente Environmental Film Festival in Turin, Italy. 

The theme of this year's SIEFF is "Ready, Climate, Action," meaning "Climate action is what we need most right now." More information is on the festival's official website (https://sieff.kr). 

In the Seoul suburb of Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do Province, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), marking its 27th year, will be held from June 29 to July 9. Under its slogan "Stay strange" adopted in 2021, the event welcomes works with provocative themes, new and unique productions in genres like horror, thriller, fantasy, science fiction, film noir, comedy, (fake) documentary, melodrama, coming-of-age, family, hybrid or undefined genres and experimental.

To run from Oct. 4-13, the 28th Busan International Film Festival has received submissions since March 15. The event is open to fictional films, documentaries or animated works completed no earlier than October last year and slated for completion by September this year. Entries are divided into shorts or features and must be submitted via the festival's website (www.biff.kr/kor). The submission deadline for shorts is June 21 and that for features July 19.

This image is from Charlie Chaplain's "Kid Auto Races at Venice," one of the three American films opening this year's BISFF from April 25 to May 1. (BISFF)