24th Jeonju IFF kicks off for 10 days of indie films

Festival seeks more public engagement by hosting outdoor screenings, Star Wars Day event and more

Audience members attend the opening ceremony of the 24th Jeonju International Film Festival held at Sori Arts Center in Jeonju, Thursday. (Jeonju IFF)

One of South Korea's main indie film events, the Jeonju International Film Festival, officially kicked off Thursday evening with a star-studded list of actors and directors visiting the city for the red carpet event and opening ceremony prior to the 10-day film festival.

Actors Park Hae-il, Lee Dong-hui, Lee Soo-hyuk, Shin Hyeon-joon, Ok Ja-yeon and some 170 other actors and directors appeared on the red carpet, meeting with fans.

Actors Jin Goo and Gong Seung-yeon were the hosts of the opening ceremony, which took place at Sori Arts Center in Jeonju Thursday night, commencing the 24th edition of the indie film festival, which is held under the slogan, “Beyond the Frames."

Actors Jin Goo and Gong Seung-yeon were the hosts of the opening ceremony of the 24th Jeonju International Film Festival, held at Sori Arts Center in Jeonju, Thursday. (Yonhap)

The festival’s opening ceremony also screened award-winning Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s gripping moral thriller, “Tori and Lokita.”

A total of 247 films from 42 countries will be screened during the 10 days of the festival, which include 66 films for world premieres, seven films for international premieres, 60 films for Asia premieres and 50 films for Korean premieres. A total of 38 short films from Korea will be also screened online for audiences across the country.

For competition, a total of 10 films have been chosen in the international section. Compared to last year’s works that were mainly documentary films, this year’s international competition is filled with works from a variety of genres and with unique visuals, the organizing committee said.

For the Korean competition, a total of 111 works have been submitted with diverse topics -- from sci-fi to queer themes -- that were new this year compared to previous editions of the festival.

A total of 25 short indie films from Korea have been chosen for the competition round, the majority of them about social messages surrounding community and family, while a large number of other films are about the movie industry itself.

Jeonju IFF will close with the world premiere of Kim Hee-Jung’s “Where Would You Like to Go?,” a co-production between Korea and Poland about a woman who travels to Warsaw after the accidental death of her husband. The film is based on the short story of the same name by novelist Kim Ae-ran and stars Park Ha-seon as the protagonist.

This year’s Jeonju IFF is taking place in different spaces across the city and there will be outdoor screenings for more public engagement, while previous events had only been held in the vicinity of Jeonju Film Street in the downtown area. Screenings will take place not only in movie theaters but also at Jeonju’s Sori Arts Center and the Jeonbuk National University Cultural Center.

To mark Star Wars Day on May 4th, an official holiday celebrated by fans of the iconic movie, Jeonju IFF will also host screening events of the Star Wars series at theaters in the city on the sidelines of the festival.

The awards ceremony will be held on May 3 before the festival comes to an end on May 6.

On the left, the three members of rock band Jaurim walk on the red carpet during the 24th Jeonju International Film Festival’s opening ceremony, held at Sori Arts Center in Jeonju, Thursday. (Jeonju IFF)

By Kim Da-sol(ddd@heraldcorp.com)