JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition 2023 Selections Announced

- Selection of eight films from Korea and abroad will participate in the pitching event during the JEONJU Project period

- Finalist Korean film and international film to receive a maximum of KRW 100 million each as investment for production

- Completed projects to be world premiered at the 25th JEONJU International Film Festival

The JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Co-Director Min Sungwook and Jung Junho) announced the selections for the 15th JEONJU Project.

The JEONJU Project is an industry program of the JEONJU IFF aimed to support the production and development of video content encompassing all genres and formats. Additionally, the JEONJU Project has been exploring avenues for the international distribution of outstanding Korean video content as well as providing opportunities for the domestic distribution of international films. The program aims to serve as a bridge to promote the exchange of excellent video content both in Korea and abroad.

The JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition, run by the JEONJU Project, is a production investment program that discovers and supports creative and adventurous feature film and documentary projects from Korea and abroad. The JEONJU Project held a call for submissions from December 6, 2022, to January 9, 2023, and received a total of 50 projects (29 Korean and 21 international), which is an increase of nine from the previous year.

Through preliminary screening, the JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition selected four Korean and four international projects. These eight works will participate in a pitching event held during the JEONJU Project period. After the final screening, one Korean and one international project will be selected as the ‘JEONJU Cinema Project’ and receive a production cost investment of up to KRW 100 million. The completed works will be screened as a world premiere at the 25th JEONJU IFF.

The four Korean projects selected to participate in the pitching event are NADIA (Moon Chang-yong), DON (Sun Hobin), Lucky, apartment (KangYu Garam), and SLAP BANG BANG (Ko Bongsoo, Noh Kyungguen). The four international projects are Krakatoa (Carlos Casas), Nothing in Its Place (Burak Çevik), The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams), and Alcestis (Ma Xue).

Previous selections of the JEONJU Cinema Project have been invited to prestigious Korean and international film festivals and received both critical and audience acclaim. Among the works selected for the JEONJU Cinema Project 2022, Girl Who Dreams About Time (Park Hyuckjee) competed in the 35th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, A Flower in the Mouth (Éric Baudelaire) was invited to the Forum section of the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, and Vía Negative (Alan Segal) was invited to the First Film Competition section of the 33rd Marseille International Film Festival. Samsara (Lois Patiño), a selection of the JEONJU Cinema Project 2021, was also screened in the Encounters section of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.

Along with the announcement of the selected works for the JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition, the JEONJU Project has announced the selected projects to participate in other programs, such as the ‘Work in Progress’ and the ‘JEONJU Lab.’ The Work in Progress, newly launched in 2023, aims to improve the overall quality of Korean independent art films and support their domestic and international distribution. Of the 28 submissions, three were selected as this year's Works in Progress. During the JEONJU Project period, the creators of the selected three films will meet with overseas film festival programmers as well as industry professionals from Korea and abroad for feedback on their works.

The JEONJU Lab is a mentoring program designed to discover and foster Korean video content with various possibilities. A total of 10 projects will participate this year. Two documentaries were also selected for the project RoughCut Navigating, jointly run by Korea's SJM Foundation and JEONJU IFF. The RoughCut Navigating is a program for film editing, aimed at improving the overall quality of Korean documentary films.

The 15th JEONJU Project will be held during the JEONJU IFF, from April 30 (Sun) to May 2 (Tue).