Korean Cinema Goes On!

1,129 Korean Films Submitted to the 22nd JEONJU IFF!

? 1,101 films were submitted to the competition sections, Korean Competition and Korean Competition for Shorts.

? Despite COVID-19, the encouraging numbers of submissions are similar to 2019.

? Call for submissions for the 22nd JEONJU IFF closed with a total of 1,527 domestic and international submissions.

Despite having the film industry shrink in 2020 due to COVID-19, Korean films are continuously being made. The 22nd JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Director LEE Joondong) opened its submissions from December 1 of last year to February 1 this year. A total of 1,129 Korean titles were submitted, which is quite an encouraging number in comparison to previous years.

The JEONJU IFF called for submissions of Korean films. Korean Competition spotlights a director’s first or second films, while Korean Competition for Shorts introduces short films of various genres. This year, the festival received 108 Korean Competition submissions and 993 Korean Competition for Shorts submissions.

The number of Korean submissions decreased slightly this year compared to 2020, but considering how the COVID-19 pandemic placed restrictions and difficulties in shooting with social distancing, we can say that it is an encouraging number. There were 17 and 47 fewer submissions respectively for Korean Competition and Korean Competition for Shorts compared to the 21st edition, but the numbers this year are similar to the 20th edition in 2019 before COVID-19 broke out. This shows how much trust film professionals have in JEONJU IFF after seeing the diverse forms the festival took to hold the event even though the pandemic. In addition, considering how JEONJU IFF acted as a touchstone for Korean independent films despite the pandemic, the submissions this year tells us that Korean independent films and the Korean film industry will continue to be active in 2021.

JEONJU IFF’s Programmer MOON Seok said, “I would like to show respect to the Korean filmmakers who have been quietly making movies despite having suffered great difficulties due to COVID-19 that broke out early last year. Although the number of submissions has decreased compared to last year, we will carefully and meticulously review the titles knowing that the productions were more difficult than ever to complete.”

Meanwhile, the 22nd JEONJU IFF’s call for submissions which successfully closed even with COVID-19 received 398 international films (International Competition) and 1,129 Korean films, totaling 1,527 submissions. This number is 220 less than last year´s, but a slight increase compared to the 20th festival (1,506 submissions) in 2019. JEONJU IFF will prescreen the submitted films, and once the final selections have been made, the festival will announce the titles section by section in order.

The 22nd JEONJU IFF will be held from April 29 (Thurs) to May 8 (Sat).