The Jeonju International Film Festival has revealed the ten finalists for its Korean Competition at next month’s 17th edition. Competing films, all from first-time or sophomore filmmakers, were whittled down from 121 feature entries.

 

In an official press release, JIFF programmers praised the diversity of the Korean independent film scene, stating that the broad array of titles did not allow for easy categorization. However, compared to previous years, more documentaries came up through the selection process, indicating an increase of interest and maturing of talent in the indie non-fiction realm. This year’s documentaries include YOON Jae-ho’s Mrs. B. A North Korean Woman, LEE Dong-woo’s No Preparation for Old Age and KO Hee-young’s Breathing Underwater.

 

JIFF also reserved praise for the skill of low-budget filmmakers yielding mature works which belie their meagre financial means. Challenging the aesthetics of commercial genre in independent cinema, films such as KIM Jong-kwan’s Worst Woman, KIM Jin-tae’s A Field Day, RYOO Hoon’s Curtain Call, CHO Seong-eun’s With or Without You (not to be confused with last year’s competing documentary of the same name), GO Bong-su’s Delta Boys and CHOI Jeong-min’s Press will appear at this year’s edition.

 

Following last year’s Grand Prize winner, AHN Gooc-jin’s Alice In Earnestland, this year’s competition section will also feature a new film from the graduate program of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, LEE Hyun-ju’s Our Love Story.

 

The 17th Jeonju International Film Festival will take place over April 30th to May 9th. The full JIFF programme will be revealed during a press conference in Seoul later this month.