It is shifting into the transition period to create a space designated for the film festival. The immediate inconvenience of separating the event space will be minimized through efficient circulation planning, while taking advantage of the expanded space management. Unlike previous years, when most events were held in specialized spaces within Film Street in the original downtown, the festival space will be expanded throughout Jeonju and the role of each space will be strengthened to promote it as a base. Official events and large-scale screenings such as the opening and closing ceremonies held in one large space called JEONJU Dome previously, will now be divided into the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do and Jeonbuk National University Cultural Center. Reducing the oversaturation of the event space will be a timely operation at a time when safety management for multi-group events has become more urgent.

The normalization of offline events has been the goal of film festival operation since passing through the pandemic period last year, and this year, the festivities will be further strengthened. Events linked to the Jeonju City Tourism Base City Project and the East Asian Cultural City Project will be side events of the film festival to fill in the scattered spaces. The main purpose of the Jeonju City linked project is to enjoy film culture with locals and visitors, and JEONJU Cine X Meet and JEONJU Cine X Walk, which are included in the entire project under JEONJU Cinetour, are titled with such purpose. We will prepare additional events so that local residents can meet the film festival most comfortably in their daily lives, and tourists and audiences visiting Jeonju on a spring day can interact with each other.

Outdoor Screening held throughout Jeonju's attractions will take place for about a month from weekend two weeks before the opening of the festival to organize weekend times convenient for local residents and tourists to participate together. Collaboration with an actor management agency is attempted for the first time this year, and will make the side events more interesting. Twenty actors will participate in the festival through various programs who have long relationships with the JEONJU IFF and engaged in various activities and diverse media from Noon Company, the management agency. The Star Wars Day event, which was prepared with Disney at the 20th Film Festival, will also be attempted again during the festival. New Star Wars screenings and costume parades are events many fans want to see again.

Focusing on the JEONJU Project event, we will reinforce the role of the film festival to create a quality film production environment. Through the conference linked with the 10th anniversary special exhibition of the JEONJU Cinema Project, we will review the role of the film festival as a film producer, examine the crisis of the Korean independent film industry after the pandemic, and seek ways to overcome it. We plan to examine the current status and practical effects of the JEONJU Cinema Project, which has been going on for the past 10 years, with domestic and foreign filmmakers, and try to seek a more advanced direction for the future.

With the goal of expanding opportunities for the culturally underprivileged to participate in film festivals, we will promote barrier-free film production support (education, subtitle production) for the first time in a domestic film festival, along with the introduction of barrier-free film screenings. It is a meaningful start to spread a barrier-free culture, and it is a project that needs to be further expanded and developed in the future. Efforts will continue to form a local cultural ecosystem by reinforcing projects to foster filmmakers that continue creative activities based on Jeonju, such as the production and mentoring support project for local filmmakers such as the JEONJU Lab: Short.

JEONJU IFF has continued its efforts to secure and develop a path for domestic talented producers and productions to advance internationally using the film festival as a stepping stone. This year we were able to further expand our platform to introduce them internationally through the film festival. Through collaboration with Cineteca Nacional de Mexico, which introduces new independent films from around the world, a mid and long term screening project of films selected at the JEONJU IFF will be held at Cineteca theaters. In addition, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the JEONJU Cinema Project, we are promoting an international tour screening of previous film festival production investments, including the JEONJU Cinema Project, in collaboration with major overseas theaters, art galleries, and archives. In order to reinforce industrial capacity and build a foundation for market vitalization by discovering and supporting Korean immersive contents, a place will be created to introduce high-quality domestic VR films that have been produced in collaboration with the Korea Creative Content Agency.

This year's edition includes a special exhibition to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the JEONJU Cinema Project. At the first edition of JEONJU IFF in 2000, there was a project called Digital Short Films by Three Filmmakers. It has been established as an event drawing attention from worldwide filmmakers. However, as the significance of digital films faded, in 2014, we expanded the support to include feature films and changed the name to JEONJU Cinema Project. The JEONJU Cinema Project has promoted the production of low-budget feature films during the past ten years by producing 33 domestic and international independent and art films, establishing itself as a representative program of the JEONJU IFF.

The international film sections introduce seven Japanese and Chinese films through Focus: East Asian Films Now to spotlight new filmmakers based in Japan and China and to promote active cooperation across borders. Titles to screen in this section include a documentary shedding light on the significance of women in Chinese history; a family drama looking at a single-parent family from the perspectives of a kid and a mother; and a film based on a true story surrounding a social turmoil brought by a problematic Japanese software, WinNY; a title following up the legacy of the one-child policy that remains in China and addressing the fundamental question about the myth of motherhood. Together, they help understand the current status of East Asian filmmaking.

In the Korean film sections, two special exhibitions will welcome the audience. The first is JEONJU Cine X Meet: NOON COMPANY, part of the Cine Tour for those who visit Jeonju to participate in or enjoy the festival. The program helps the audience and general public to enjoy screening and talks with the agency for actors who work in the independent film industry. This year, actors from the NOON COMPANY—Lee Minji, Kim Seulki, Gang Gilwoo, Lee Sang-hee, Jang Seon, Noh Soohyang, and Lee Seok-hyeong—will take charge. Most actors from the agency will take part in this exciting program to lead the talks; they will also speak for four Meet Talks to tell intriguing behind-the-scenes stories.

Additionally, Focus: KAFA40 celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA). Forty shorts are on the program, based on the recommendation of KAFA alums, current and former faculty, and staff. This exhibition has seven smaller sections documenting how Korean cinema has developed so far. Among the sections is The President's Last Bang featuring the early days of well-known actors such as Hwang Jung-min, Son Seok-goo, and Jeong Hae-in.

Continuing the tradition of having a guest programmer lead a section, actor, musician, painter, and installation artist Bek Hyunjin will serve as the Programmer of the Year. He will share the films that helped construct and shape his art world and talk with the audience. In the past editions, actors Ryu Hyunkyung (22nd edition) and director Yeon Sang-ho (23rd edition) led this section.

Along with these, many sections continue the tradition of previous editions, such as International Competition, Korean Competition, Korean Competition for Shorts, Korean Cinema, World Cinema, Cinema Fest, Expanded Cinema, Cinephile JEONJU, Frontline, Masters, and Midnight Cinema. As usual, these sections consist of titles displaying more variety and novel gazes than before.