The 25th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) will run from May 1-10 on Jeonju Film Street in Wansan-gu District of Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province. Shown is a scene from this year's opening film "All the Long Nights" by Japanese director Miyake Sho. (JIFF)
By Xu Aiying
The 25th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) will return next month with 232 entries from 43 countries.
JIFF's organizing committee on April 3 held a news conference at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District to announce this year's selections and programs.
Under the theme "We Always Cross the Line," the event from May 1-10 will screen 102 domestic and 130 international movies on Jeonju Film Street in Wansan-gu District of Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province.
The opening film is Japanese director Sho Miyake's newest work "All the Long Nights." Based on the eponymous novel by Japanese author Maiko Seo, the movie is about the relationship between a woman with premenstrual syndrome and a man suffering from a panic disorder.
The closing film, "Matt and Mara" by Canadian director Kazik Radwanski, follows the story of Mara, a young professor of creative writing, who reunites with Matt, a free-spirited writer from her past.
Following the appearance of the acclaimed Belgian filmmaking duo of the Dardenne brothers last year, this year's event will also have world-class directors attend.
Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, who has created high-level works in cinema and performing and fine arts for over 30 years, will visit Jeonju with his acclaimed "Walker" series. This will be a rare opportunity to see all 10 parts of the series starting with the first, "No Form" (2012), and ending with the last, "Abiding Nowhere," which premiered in February at the Berlin International Film Festival of Germany.
This is a scene from Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang's 10-part "Walker" series. (JIFF)
The International and Korean Competition sections will also offer a wide variety of films.
The International Competition is where 10 selected films will make their Asian premieres by directors making their first or second feature. This year, a record-high 747 entries were received from 81 countries, many of which were made during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Korean Competition also saw a record-high 134 entries, with those telling the stories of women standing out. Films have often focused on the marginalization of women or the social damage they suffer, but the submissions this time are told through the presence of women in everyday life.
The retrospective "Re-wind: Korean Film Archive in Jeonju" will screen 10 works: four previously screened at the festival that elicited a great response, four Korean masterpieces from the 1950s selected by the Korean Film Archive, and one each by the late directors Kim Soo-yong, who died in December last year, and Lee Doo-yong, who passed away in January this year.
Woo Beom-ki (third from left), chair of this year's Jeonju International Film Festival's (JIFF) organizing committee, on the afternoon of April 3 talks about the latest JIFF at a news conference held at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District. (Xu Aiying)
More details on this year's JIFF is available on the event's official website: https://eng.jeonjufest.kr/?intro=hide.
xuaiy@korea.kr
