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Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF)


Official Website
Dates
Category	Competitive
E-mail	jiffprogram@jiff.or.kr

The Jeonju International Film Festival, founded in 2000, is one of the largest Asian film festivals and the most major backer of experimental and risky projects in Korea. JIFF is frequently compared to Busan International Film Festival, but while Busan aspires to be Asia's "Cannes," Jeonju is more akin to Locarno or Rotterdam film festivals, attracting an audience made of connoisseurs who expect the best quality of films.

JIFF's goal of discovering films could be visible from the outset. The first films of Darren ARONOFSKY, Fernando MEIRELLES, and Alejandro González IÑÁRRITU were shown at the first JIFF. Jiff highlighted early pieces by Béla TARR, Ulrich SEIDL, and Laurent CANTET for the first time in Asia. Matias PIEIRO, YING Liang, Denis CÔTÉ, Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, SUWA Nobuhiro, John AKOMFRAH, and MIIKE Takashi are among the winners of the International Competition Section at the Jeonju International Film Festival.

Another interesting feature of Jeonju is that it also produces films. Directors who were previously invited to Jeonju IFF were subsequently invited to Jeonju Digital Project (JDP). A yearly collection of three digital shorts initiated in 2000 to promote this new format, JDP provided financial support to masters for their short films, which were then world-premiered at Jeonju. The directors who participated in JDP include JIA Zhang Ke, TSAI Ming Liang, Shinji AOYAMA, BONG Joon-Ho, Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, Shinya TSUKAMOTO, Darezhan OMIRVAEV, Pedro COSTA, Mahamat-saleh HAROUN, HONG Sang-soo, Lav DIAZ, Claire DENIS, ZHANG Lu, and KOBAYASHI Masahiro. As digital films become the norm, the program was transformed in 2014 to promote independent feature films instead, and the name was changed to JEONJU Cinema Project. Over the last 10 years, the JEONJU Cinema Project has fostered the development of low-budget feature films by funding 33 local and international independent and art films, establishing itself as a representative program of the JEONJU IFF.

Another distinguishing feature of JIFF is its experimental component, Expanded Cinema (formerly Stranger than Cinema). Expanded Cinema is Asia's greatest experimental cinema segment, premiering new projects by filmmakers including Peter KUBELKA, Peter TSCHERKASSKY, Harun FAROCKI, Artavazd PELESHIAN, James BENNING, Alexander KLUGE, Pere PORTABEELA, Raya MARTIN, Romuald KARMAKAR, and Jon JOST.

City

Jeonju

Program

Opening / Closing Films

International Competition

Korean Competition

Korean Competition for Shorts

JEONJU Cinema Project

Every year, the Jeonju IFF showcases the latest independent feature films that benefited from its production support program.

Frontline

Independent titles that tell bold, new and provocative stories.

World Cinema

Films of various genres from around the world

Focus: East Asian Films Now

Films by new filmmakers from Korea, China and Japan.

Masters

The latest films from great directors.

Korean Cinema

New films by Korean directors who have previously presented their works at JIFF

JEONJU Cine X Meet

A program of film screenings and talks with actors, each year focusing on a different talent agency reprsenting independent film. The guest company for 2023 was Noon Company.

Expanded Cinema

Films that attempt aesthetic novelty not only in their forms but also in their story, composition and thematic expression

Cinema Fest

A selection of films that combine artistic quality and popular appeal for all audiences.

Midnight Cinema

Late night screenings of genre films.

Cinephile JEONJU

A retrospective section of older films that are worth revisiting from the present point of view.

Special sections

- JEONJU Cinema Project: A film festival as a producer

- Focus: KAFA40

J Special: Programmer of the Year

Three movies chosen by this year’s guest programmer. The guest for 2023 was artist-singerwriter-actor Bek Hyunjin.

Special Screenings

Special Screenings: VR Cinema

Awards

International Competition

- Grand Prize: Given to one film competing in the International Competition with a cash prize of KRW 20 million and a trophy.

- Best Picture Prize: Given to one film competing in the International Competition with a cash prize of KRW 10 million and a trophy.

- Special Jury Prize: Given to one film competing in the International Competition with a cash prize of KRW 10 million and a trophy.

Korean Competition

- Grand Prize: Given to one film competing in the Korean Competition with a cash prize of KRW 15 million and a trophy.

- Best Actor Prize: Given to two actors starring in films competing in the Korean Competition with a cash prize of KRW 5 million and a trophy, respectively.

- CGV Award: Given by CGV Arthouse to two films competing in the Korean Competition with a cash prize of KRW 10 million and a trophy, respectively.

- Watcha's Pick - Feature: Given by Watcha to one film competing in the Korean Competition with a cash prize of KRW 10 million and a trophy.

Korean Competition for Shorts

- Grand Prize: Given to one film competing in the Korean Competition for Shorts with a cash prize of KRW 5 million and a trophy.

- Best Director Prize: Given to one film competing in the Korean Competition for Shorts with a cash prize of KRW 3 million and a trophy.

- Special Jury Prize: Given to one film competing in the Korean Competition for Shorts with a cash prize of KRW 2 million and a trophy.

- Watcha's Pick - Short: Given by Watcha to five films competing in the Korean Competition for Shorts with a cash prize of KRW 1 million and a trophy, respectively.

Others

- Documentary Award: Given to one Korean feature documentary film with a cash prize of KRW 1 million and a trophy.

- J Vision Award: Given to one film in the Local Cinema with a cash prize of KRW 1 million and a trophy.

- NETPAC Award: Given by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) to one Asian film in non-competitive sections of JEONJU IFF with an award and a trophy.

- Cineteca Nacional México Award: Selected and given by Cineteca Nacional de México to one Korean feature film with release support at the Cineteca Nacional de México and a trophy.

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