Korea’s longest running film festival (though it has employed different names over the decades), the Seoul Independent Film Festival will be back later this month for its 44th edition, which will be presented under the subtitle OF(F) COURSE. As of this writing the festival has yet to reveal its opening and closing titles but the rest of the local program has been announced, which will comprise close to 100 shorts and features. Across its three main program sections – ‘Competition’, ‘New Choice’ and ‘Special Invitation’ – viewers will be able to sample 32 features films and 55 new shorts, in order to get a sense of the best that the varied local indie scene has to offer.

Presented by The Association of Korean Independent Film & Video and the Korean Film Council (Chairman - OH Seok Geun), this year’s SIFF will hold screenings at CGV Apgujeong, the Independent Film House ‘INDIESPACE’, and the Seoul Art Cinema. Beyond the local titles which form the backbone of the program, SIFF will also screen a number of international independent works, which had yet to be revealed before writing this article.

This year’s OF(F) COURSE slogan foregrounds the festival’s commitment to presenting new ways of thinking to audiences. SIFF explains on its website, “We think of going off course. We imagine infinite potentials created by a brave initiation that you are carving your way to.” Independent films are an important way to see the way forward for progress in society. As SIFF puts it, “Independent films have demonstrated that this kind of world is possible. That was an ambitious and brave initiation.”

As SIFF is the last major film event of the year in Korea, it assembles many of the notable works that have screened throughout the year at major Korean festivals, as well as having a few world premieres of its own. Coming so soon after the Busan International Film Festival, the biggest event in the country, naturally many BIFF titles find their way into the lineup and that was no different this year as 14 feature films from Busan can be found peppered throughout the lineup. Other well represented festivals include the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (five features), Jeonju International Film Festival (three features) and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN - two features).

Ten films have been selected for the festival’s annual competition section. These include Winter's Night, a Jeonju Cinema Project that marks the third outing for director JANG Woo-jin (Grand Prize winner at Jeonju with A Fresh Start in 2014). Art documentarian Kelvin Kyungkun PARK follows up his acclaimed Berlinale-screened A Dream of Iron (2014) with his new non-fiction work ARMY, which explores Korea’s mandatory military service.

Other Busan titles include the indie dramas Maggie by YI Ok-seop, which features MOON So-ri in a supporting role, the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) graduation project A Boy and Sungreen by AHN Ju-young, night light by KIM Moo-young, and HAN Ka-ram’s Our Body, another KAFA project which debuted a month ahead of Busan at the Toronto International Film Festival. CHO Min-jae’s Tiny Light will have its world premiere in the section. Meanwhile, PARK Ju-hwan’s documentary Graduation comes from the Seoul Independent Documentary Film Festival and LEE Suk-gyung’s Corner Store (translated title) previously screened at the Jeongseon Women’s Film Festival and will also be seen at the Women’s Film Festival in Gwangju this month.

Among the ‘New Choice’ selection, the biggest titles are KIM Bora’s debut House of Hummingbird, which is riding off of a critically acclaimed start in BIFF’s New Currents competition last month, after receiving support from the IFP Narrative Lab, Sundance Institute, Korean Film Council and Seoul Film Commission, among others during its development; YU Eun-jeong’s genre-tinged indie drama Ghost Walk, which earned the Audience Award from the Bucheon Choice Competition in BIFAN; and CHOI Chang-hwan’s Back from the Beat, the CGV Arthouse Award winner from Jeonju. Other titles include a world premiere for PARK Joong-kwon’s Seat with a Good View (translated title), KIM Seol-hae’s non-fiction work For Dear Life from DMZ, JANG Yun-mi’s documentary Under Construction which screened at DMZ and IndieForum, and PARK Kun-young’s Jeonju selection To My River.

A total of 15 feature titles are included in the ‘Special Invitation’ strand. Among these are a pair of Busan-screened animated films - CHANG Hyung-yun’s Ireesha, The Daughter of Elf-king and AHN Jae-huun’s The Shaman Sorceress - and JUNG Sung-il’s pair of documentaries on legendary filmmaker IM Kwon-taek - Gravity of the Tea and Cloud, Encore. Other works include Busan selections like KIM Jin-yu’s family drama Bori, documentaries PARK Bae-il’s Last Scene and KIM Ji-gon’s Littleboy 12725, LIM Tae-gue’s Jeonju Cinema Project The Land on the Waves, DMZ titles Garden, Zoological by WANG Min-cheol, Coming to You, Minu by JEE Hye-won and Glow Job by IM Cheol-min, Listen to Your Heart. The Beautiful Mind by RYU Jang-ha and SON Mi from the Jecheon International Music & Film Festival, KIM Sun-ung’s BIFAN selection Hakuna Matata Pole Pole, KOH Hoon’s Eomung (Korean title), which screened at the Island Movie Camp Festa, and finally the world premiere of KIM Mi-young’s Never Ever Rush.

Notable local films that have debuted at SIFF in the last few years include PARK Suk-young’s Ash Flower (2017), the concluding film in his ‘Flower’ trilogy of works all featuring rising star JEONG Ha-dam, including Wild Flowers (2015) and Steel Flower (2016), the latter of which earned the Grand Prize from SIFF in 2015, as well as the indie drama Koala (2013), the film director Jason KIM made prior to his commercial smash debut Midnight Runners last year. Meanwhile, last year’s top prize winner was KIM Joong-hyeon's February, another work that had debuted in Busan a few months prior.

For anyone within striking distance of Seoul with even the slightest interest in Korean or global independent cinema and the freshest stories tackling the world’s contemporary social issues, the Seoul Independent Film Festival is an essential event. Check out the festival’s website (www.siff.or.kr) for updates as SIFF rounds out its programs and events in the weeks to come.