Demur among Korea's more muscular, high profile movie fests in Busan, Jeonju, and Bucheon, the Seoul International Film Festival, known collectively with the Seoul Net Festival as SENEF, kicks off its 9th edition Thursday. SENEF runs June 5 to 11 at Sponge House in the Joong-Ang Cinema, central Seoul.
The festival will this year screen 47 feature films and 22 short films. Under the motto 'Imagine, share, and shift' the SeNefia08 section will present 8 features in international competition for a prize worth US$ 7000. The winning film will also screen as the closing film of the festival.
The opening film this year comes from Russian art house auteur, Svetlana Proskurina, and is titled The Best of Times. Proskurina is the focus of the main retrospective program this which will screen 7 of her films including one of her earliest from 1982.
The Over the Cinema section is always a must-see, presenting often-talked-about films on the festival circuits. This year's program screens 7 films with the theme of questioning authorized histories.
The HD Choice section presents the only Korean features in the festival, "Synching Blue" by SEO Won-tae and "LaLa Sunshine" by KIM Aaron. Both films deal with the theme of young individuals trying to overcome their isolation.
A section called Chilean Cinema Special will screen 5 films representative of the diverse currents in the Latin nation's film industry. Lastly Nouveau French Cinema showcases three cutting edge films selected by French film magazine editors for SENEF.
Nigel D'Sa (KOFIC)
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