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.”
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.
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.