JEONJU IFF Reveals the Finalists for the Korean Competition for Shorts

The 21st JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF) would like to thank everyone who have submitted films for our Korean Competition for Shorts.

This year, 18 fiction films, 2 documentary films, 3 experimental films and 2 animated films were selected.

Finalists of the Korean Competition for Shorts of the 21st JEONJU IFF are as follows.

The finalists of the Korean Competition for Shorts are (Korean alphabetical order):

1) Fanning (JEON Ye-jin) | Korea | 2020 | 23min | DCP | Color

2) Each (KANG Jeong-in) | Korea | 2019 | 36min | HD | B/W

3) Trapped (KIM Yoon-sun) | Korea | 2020 | 7min | DCP | Color

4) Some Errors of the Construction-universe (PARK Koon-je) | Korea | 2020 | 14min | DCP | Color

5) Goodtime (KANG Dong-in) | Korea | 2020 | 23min | DCP | Color

6) Graeae: A Stationed Idea (JEONG Yeoreum) | Korea | 2020 | 34min | DCP | Color+B/W

7) The Floor Below (HWANG Hye-in) | Korea | 2020 | 22min | DCP | Color

8) Porosity Valley 2: Tricksters´ Plot (KIM Ayoung) | Korea | 2019 | 23min | HD | Color

9) The Moon and Fork (SHIN Nari) | Korea | 2020 | 14min | HD | Color

10) Damage (KIM Sung-hwan) | Korea | 2019 | 28min | DCP | Color

11) Doong-ji (JO Kyoung-won) | Korea | 2020 | 21min | DCP | Color

12) Walking Backwards (BANG Sung-jun) | Korea | 2020 | 35min | DCP | Color

13) Driving School (YU Sujin) | Korea | 2020 | 28min | DCP | Color

14) Quitting My Destiny (CHANG Hyung-yun) | Korea | 2020 | 24min | DCP | Color

15) The Thread (LEE Nayeon, CHO Minjei) | Korea | 2020 | 30min | DCP | Color

16) Mouth & Mouth Fighter (SEO Gahyeon) | Korea | 2019 | 21min | DCP | Color

17) It´s Going to Explode One Day (SEO Taebeom) | Korea | 2019 | 21min | DCP | Color

18) We Bloom (KIM Yulhee) | Korea | 2020 | 28min | DCP | Color

19) Casually, for the Worse (KIM Yewon) | Korea | 2020 | 24min | DCP | Color

20) The End of the Universe (HAN Byung-a) | Korea | 2020 | 9min | DCP | Color

21) Expiration Date (YOO Joonmin) | Korea | 2020 | 27min | DCP | Color

22) Dear.Picaresque (ZO Hyeyoung) | Korea | 2020 | 37min | HD | Color

23) Dear Juhee (OH Hyundo) | Korea | 2020 | 26min | DCP | Color

24) Moth (JUNG Yeon-joo) | Korea | 2020 | 11min | DCP | Color

25) Full Moon (NAM Soona) | Korea | 2020 | 20min | DCP | Color

Judges’ commentary on the Korean Competition for Shorts

There are so many reasons for us to love short films. One of the most appealing points of Korean short films is their stories that everyone would agree with. Most of them portray desperate problems or shocking incidents of current Korean society. Also, this year’s entries for the Korean Competition for Shorts of the JEONJU International Film Festival have high cinematic quality and various subject matters. From individuals´ daily lives to social issues, there was a wide range of themes, many of which dealt with current issues like housing, the elderly and disability. It looks positive that there were many submissions about the vulnerable members of society, and their subtle characterizations appealed to the juries.

This year’s main subjects fell into three parts: women, the socially weak and safety net and a change of media. First of all, films from the women’s perspectives made up to biggest percentage of the Korean Competition for Shorts. It was good to hear voices of women, from young girls to elderly retirees, of all ages and different classes, especially working women. Secondly, submissions were more likely to pay attention to the minority. Filmmakers made efforts to get over conflicts of generation or sex through exploring and understanding individuals. Unlike previous year’s submissions which perceived disability as special circumstances or problems of others, it was remarkable that a lot of films this year looked upon this as a part of daily life or a companion.

More than 1,000 entries tackled the poverty and death. Broken relationships, disappeared social nets and marginalized conditions of life demonstrated the dark side of our society. However, young filmmakers are imagining one step further, instead of staying hopeless and depressed. They sometimes brought unexpected joy by their effort to tell new stories ethically, including disabilities, races, sexual orientations, family forms. Juries were relieved to see a diversity of ‘human’s faces’ in Korean society. We would like to support and thank all Korean short film directors who have fiercely unearthed stories in the front line.

It was also interesting that there were many entries with sensibility and critical mind about social media, such as Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. However, a lot of them seemed to have not enough storytelling, compared to their material interests. Therefore, we gave higher marks to films which twisted this change of media with new sense of subjects, than ones using it as a simple subject. We are expecting these films to develop their cinematic completion and collaborate with film media in new ways.

In addition, sci-fi films have increased this year. For example, experimental film Porosity Valley 2: Tricksters’ Plot not only has a new look, but also handles problems of our time in a futuristic and science fictional set. Besides, many films focused on problems like birth rate drop, obsession with dominant genes or fear of world destruction with dystopian worldviews. However, some of them left much to be desired when they went too far with bright ideas so that they lost consensus.

All these tendencies led up to diversity in the end. This year’s submissions surprised our jury members by their various subjects and approaches. There were some films crossing borders between fictional, documentary and experimental films. It was even difficult for some films to be sorted by a certain genre because they were made in directors’ unique styles which blurred the distinction between genres.

Accordingly, juries gave more weight to creativity and novelty, rather than technical arts. As a result, we are happy to introduce short films which show their own stories and styles in intensive timeframes while considering how to unfold them. We also support and thank all films which were not selected for all these reasons. We believe this year’s finalists for the Korean Competition for Shorts have the potential ability to lead Korean cinema in the near future, so we are glad to introduce these brilliant short films.

Preliminary juries for the Korean Competition for Shorts:

KIM Sol, NA Wonjeong, SOHN Heejeong and SONG Kyung-won

JEONJU IFF Reveals the Local Cinema Lineup

We would like to thank all of you who have submitted entries to the Local Cinema of the 21st JEONJU IFF.

1 feature film and 4 short films were selected for this year.

The Local Cinema lineup which will screen at the 21st JEONJU IFF is as below.

The Local Cinema lineup includes (Korean alphabetical order):

1) UFO Sketch (KIM Jeanwook) | Korea | 2019 | 84min | DCP | Color

2) Dear.Picaresque (ZO Hyeyoung) | Korea | 2020 | 37min | HD | Color

3) Jokyoki (KIM Hyeok) | Korea | 2019 | 18min | HD | Color

4) Leaf (YOU Joonsang) | Korea | 2019 | 18min | DCP | Color

5) Gestalt (KIM Hwi-joung) | Korea | 2020 | 24min | DCP | Color

Judges´ commentary on the Local Cinema

The real beauty of short films is to glimpse flash moments or thoughtful ideas of directors in a fraction of the time. Short films remind me of a warrior having a fight with one hand tied or an archer shooting an arrow with his or her eyes closed. Many films among 40 entries for the Local Cinema this year are very interesting. 7 feature films were also sophisticated. Therefore, it was unnecessary for the first-timer juries for the Local Cinema to worry; what if local cinemas had lower level of completion than entries for the competitions or what if there were so many films which met only locational conditions.

There are 5 films selected for the Local Cinema: ZO Hyeyoung’s Dear.Picaresque, KIM Hyeok’s Jokyoki, YOU Joonsang’s Leaf, KIM Hwi-joung Gestalt (short films so far) and KIM Jeanwook’s UFO Sketch. The only feature film, UFO Sketch is a documentary about a professor who not only believes in UFOs, but also carries scientific researches about them, while showing many witnesses in Korea. The documentary film seriously portrays people tracking, recording and studying UFOs; this absorbing film let us know it takes all sorts of interests and points of view to make a world.

Dear.Picaresque was highly commended by judges. The film starts from a house and introspects the director´s so near and yet so far world. It is located in a current trend of personal documentary, but reaches a notable achievement by his own narrative strategy. Although Jokyoki was made for the film class of the local community, it was garnered positive reviews to go beyond conventional features. This short film delicately captures an instantaneous whirlwind to the inner side of a middle-aged woman, and it can become a good model for people who make films in their community productions. Leaf revolves around a father and his daughter chasing a runaway mother. Its simple cinematic expressions and actors´ stable performances were outstanding, while it has impressive ending. Gestalt stood out for the director´s perseverance to push what he wants through. Especially, the movie was well regarded for the director´s potentials as well as its substantial quality.

Selection Committee for this year´s Local Cinema included YOU Soonhee, Representative of Cinematheque Cinephile Jeonju and director LEE Seede (After Hours and Today´s Gravity). These two jurors didn´t judge by strict criteria, but they participated in evaluation with their great love and passion for cinema. I want to express my thanks to YOU and LEE that I could learn a lot from their wisdom. Lastly, I thank all participants who will build stellar records in the Korean film industry from now on, although they were not selected this year´s lineup.

JEONJU IFF´s Programmer MOON Seok