Jecheon International Music and Film Festival 2013 Begins
Taking place beneath a clear blue sky during a warm summer’s eve, the 9th edition of the Jecheon International Music and Film Festival (JIMFF) opened its doors on Wednesday night (August 14th) for a five-day event filled with music and film. The opening ceremony, which took place at the outdoor Cheongpung Lake Stage, was a starry affair featuring a varied array of musical performances.
Kicking off the show was a rendition of the song Falling Slowly from the Irish film Once (2007), performed by the ceremony’s hosts: actor Ju Ji-hoon and K-pop star Eunjung from the girl group T-ara. CHOI Myeong-hyeon, the president of JIMFF and the Mayor of Jecheon, then took to the stage to welcome everyone and declare the event open. Next up was new festival director HUR Jin-ho, the acclaimed filmmaker of Christmas in August (1998) and One Fine Spring Day (2001), who expressed confidence in the festival’s growing lineup.
Composer LEE Dong-joon was presented an honorary award by HUR following a congratulatory video which featured words from fellow film composers and stars such as JANG Dong-gun and LEE Byung-hun. LEE then conducted parts of his past film scores with the works being diffused over the small orchestra on stage. The features included The Gingko Bed (1996), Save the Green Planet (2003), Taegugki: Brotherhood of War (2004), My Way (2011) and Miracle in Cell No. 7, as well as the 2010 K-drama Iris.
Following the ceremony was a presentation of the opening film Pop Redemption, a musically-themed French road comedy from director Martin Le Gall. The filmmaker presented the film on stage and answered questions from the evening’s hosts. Featuring 95 films from 34 countries and many musical performance, JIMFF will run for six days until August 19th.