Tsai Ming-Liang X JEONJU International Film Festival
Announce the 11th Walker Film in Jeonju
- Director Tsai Ming-Liang announces the 11th Walker film in Jeonju
- A relationship with JEONJU Digital Project in 2001,
continuing with a feature project as a JEONJU Cinema Project
- A Walker performance to commemorate the special focus around Film Street on May 4th
The 25th Jeonju International Film Festival Festival (JEONJU IFF, Co-Director MIN Sungwook and JUNG Junho) started its third day with a bang on May 3 (Fri), and director Tsai Ming-Liang revealed his plan for the 11th Walker film at the ‘Tsai Ming-Liang - The Walker Series 蔡明亮 - 慢走長征 系列作品’ press conference.
On the third day of the festival, JEONJU IFF held a press conference with world-renowned director Tsai Ming-Liang and actor Lee Kang-Sheng at the Best Western Plus Jeonju Hotel. Director Tsai Ming-Liang has been invited to the world’s three major film festivals, Cannes, Berlin, and Venice, for his feature films, and Face (2009) became the first film to be archived in the collection of the Louvre Museum. JEONJU IFF began its relationship with Tsai Ming-Liang in 2001 when he made his first digital short film, Conversation with God (2001). Now, on its 25th anniversary, the festival is celebrating with a special focus dedicated to Tsai Ming-Liang and his Walker Series. The whole 10 Walker Series films will be shown in cinemas for the first time in the world.
At the press conference for the series, the co-director Min Sungwook and Jung Junho, and director Tsai Ming-Liang announced that the 11th Walker film will be co-produced by the JEONJU Cinema Project next year. The relationship between the JEONJU IFF and director Tsai Ming-Liang, which began with a short film in 2001, will continue with a feature project. “I only shoot the Walker Series in beautiful cities. I am honored to shoot the 11th series in beautiful Jeonju. As monk Xuanzang has gotten to know the world through the series, I hope that the audiences will get to know Jeonju,” said director Tsai Ming-Liang.
For his 11th film, Tsai Ming-Liang revealed that the entire film will be shot in Jeonju. The Walker series films feature actor Lee Kang-Sheng as a monk in a red robe, slowly walking barefoot through various cities around the world, including Taipei, Hong Kong,
Kuching(Malaysia), Marseille, Tokyo, Paris, and Washington, D.C., and now Jeonju, the representative city of Korea, will be the new stage for Lee’s slow walk.
Meanwhile, to celebrate the special focus of director Tsai Ming-Liang, the JEONJU IFF hosted a Walker Performance Contest around the film street. The performance took place in front of CGV Jeonjugosa on May 4 (Sat) at 7 p.m. Participants followed the demonstration of actor Lee Kang-Sheng and walked slowly at their own pace. At the end of the contest, a deeply touched director Tsai Ming-Liang made eye contact and gave each participant a hug, and rewarded them with specially selected coffee and a book of the Walker Series.
With the surprise unveiling of Tsai Ming-Liang’s 11th Walker Series, the 25th JEONJU IFF will transform the most representative city into the most cinematic city of the Republic of Korea.
