Seoul Independent Film Festival to begin November 29th
The Seoul Independent Film Festival (SIFF) 2012, a banquet of Korean independent film, is going to be held at CGV Apgujeong and Indie Space, an exclusive theater for independent films, from November 29th to December 7th. Under the slogan ‘Light My Fire’, 10 feature films and 39 shorts will compete various sections and 10 short and feature films will be presented in ‘New Choice’, a newly introduced section.
The Grand Discourse, a documentary directed by PARK Se-ho, will be world-premiered as the opening film. As a part of a series, this film conveys interviews with politicians of both progressive and conservative parties conducted between March and September of the last year.
CHO Yeong-gak, the director of SIFF, introduced the opening film at the advance meeting with directors on November 8th, saying “It is the so called the age of ‘Politics’. People are focused on what politics is and how it affects their life. The Grand Discourse tells us how politicians define politics and how they think when it comes down to politics.”
This year, they are going to screen 82 films, which is more than in any previous year. Among the final 10 competitors are
Forest Dancing, a film about a Seongmisan village and
Get on the Bus, which highlights a Mongolian immigrant family. The newly introduced ‘New Choice’ is an extra competition section for feature and short films that focuses on films by new directors as well as existing independent filmmakers.
In the ‘New Choice’, there are 5 films including
Big Good, CHOI Si-hyung‘s debut film, and
Fatal, directed by LEE Don-ku, who gained notice at the 17th
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Among the 5 short films in the section, there is
The Knitting, the debut film of actress
YUN Eun-hye, and YOO Min-young’s
Invitation, which received the Orizzonti award at the Venice Film Festival. Along with the films, seminars will be conducted, including: ‘Is the SNS Democracy Feasible? Respond, 99%!’ co-hosted by the festival and the Institute for East Asian Studies of Sungkonghoe University; and ‘For Coming 5 Years, Diagnosis of Independent Film Policies’ co-hosted by the festival and the Association of Korean Independent Film & Video.