The 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival to hold JEONJU Conference 2022 for both industry and scholarship

· to discuss how XR (eXtended Reality) technologies such as VR, AR, and MR incorporate into films.

· to have VR Special Screening of Tearless and Bloodless by Gina Kim who won the Best VR Story Award at the 74th Venice IFF.

The 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Director Lee Joondong) will host JEONJU Conference 2022, the second edition of the Conference. It is an event to bring current issues in the industry and invite active industry insiders and scholars. This year, it will focus on the direction of the film industry in this rapidly changing media environment.

This year´s JEONJU Conference 2022 will be held for two days with the title of "The Content Era: Films To Meet XR." Participants will discuss the significance and impact of eXtended Reality (XR), which refers to Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Through three sessions, the panels will examine changes in what it means to be "The Cinematic" led by technology, the place of the audience in VR cinema, and the ways in which Immersive Media applies to filmmaking.

First, in the keynote lecture, Gina Kim will talk about the ethics of New Media by focusing on a case of sex slavery in the US army. In particular, she will focus on new interpretations of ethics regarding cinematic representation, Immersive Media, and storytelling. Along with this section, the VR special screenings of Tearless and Bloodless by Gina Kim will be held at the Jeonbuk VR-AR Production Support Center (website: https://jvar.kr) from Saturday, April 30 to Tuesday, May 3. You can make reservations through Naver reservation from Monday, April 25. The admission is free of charge.

Second, at the "Genealogy of VR Films" session, the panels will cover the industry viewpoints and critics´ reviews of VR films. Joyce Heeyong Cho (professor, Chung-Ang University), Sam Jeon (CEO, VentaVR), Chuck Chae (director; winner of the Best VR Experience Award at the Venice IFF for his work Buddy VR), and Chung Kyungdam (producer, YLAB PLEX) will enrich this session with their professional point of views. Finally, at the "VRscope: Changes of ‘The Cinematic’ in VR Films" session, film scholars of VR films will open their theoretical ideas on XR media to offer an opportunity to deepen the understanding of VR and XR for those who work in the film industry and the public. William Uricchio (professor, MIT), Mandy Rose (professor, the University of the West of England in Bristol), Kim Jihoon (professor, Chung-Ang University), and Seo Hyun-suk (professor, Yonsei University) will join and lead the discussion.

We will cover another continuing theme of "K-Sound" with the Jeonju Information and Culture Industry Promotion Agency (JICA) at the Conference. JICA co-hosted JEONJU Conference last year. In ‘The Direction of Korean-Style Sound Effects in Films’ session, the panels will discuss trends and directions of sound effects in Korean films. Audio specialists will join the K-Soundscape session to examine the current state, the future, and the significance of the sound effect database of Korean films. Additionally, JEONJU Conference will focus on the local film, inviting Park Kunyoung (director), Choi Jinyoung (director), and Jeong Jihye (film critic) to talk about independent films, locality, and projects.

JEONJU Conference 2022 will take place at Ongoeul Hall 3, LAHAN Hotel Jeonju, from May 2 to 3. Major sessions of the Conference will be live streamed on the YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/jeonjuiff). We offer simultaneous interpretation for sessions with international panels. For more information about the event including detailed schedule and participants and so on, please visit the following website (https://eng.jeonjufest.kr/event/conference.asp).