The 9th Jeonju International Film Festival is set to stick to its principle of favoring experimentation and explorations, but the number of films it features is getting bigger, highlighting its steadily growing influence at home and abroad.
The filmfest, running from May 1-9, is scheduled to screen 1,204 films -- 815 domestic ones and 389 from overseas. The submission figure is up 16 percent from last year, festival organizers said.
"The growing number of submissions to the JIFF is significant, as the JIFF is approaching the landmark 10th festival next year", the festival's organizing committee said in a statement. "The size of the JIFF is increasing, and the interest from the world's moviemakers and audience is also rising fast".
This positive development for the relatively young film festival comes at a time when Korea is increasingly crowded by a growing list of film events, both big and small in scale, along with some minor festivals which don't get so much attention.
The JIFF has tried to make its key selling point the idea that it is an alternative venue for aspiring Korean and foreign filmmakers whose artistic tendencies are not in line with large-scale festivals.
A combination of Korean and international elements is also one of the hallmarks for JIFF. There are more foreign films whose shooting locations are Korea, and, at the same time, more Korean filmmakers who have produced their films overseas.
Another hallmark of the latest edition of this festival is that a growing number of films deal with migrant workers, females, and illegal workers -- the emphasis being on human rights.
The festival also incorporated greater competition this year. Jung Soo-wan, program director of the JIFF, said: "The 2008 JIFF has intensified the notion of competition by changing the name of Indie Vision, a previous competition section, to International Competition".
In addition, "Jeonju Digital Project 2007: Memories" was awarded the special jury prize in the International Film Festival Locarno, which led to more foreign films being submitted this year.
The Jeonju festival organizers said that the event will introduce more independent movies and other interesting movies which can catch the attention of audiences. To that end, it recently revealed the category called "Discovery: Films from 5 Nations in post-Soviet Central Asia". Over the last five years, the Jeonju festival has introduced non-Western films, and will show 12 films from the central Asian region this year.
In addition, Africa is also getting more attention, as three prominent filmmakers from the continent will join the festival. The JIFF has sponsored short film projects to promote digital film worldwide, and has sent them to several prestigious international festivals. Every year, the JIFF showcases three filmmakers, and this year Idrisa Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad), and Nacer Khemir (Tunisia) were named recipients of the fund.
By Yang Sung-jin
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