Masters is not only a section that introduces the newest films by acclaimed directors but also a window to reveal which auteurs and films this film festival advocates and supports. This section doesn’t simply consist of recently awarded films from notable film festivals but to establish an idea about the cinema that represents the festival's programming. As such, this year’s Masters selections easily communicate JEONJU IFF's characteristics. Additionally, the journey of enjoying these films will inform the current state of cinema, show the values in conversation with recent events and retrospection of the past, and sometimes reflect the world's perception through the tool of fiction.

Lav DIAZ returns to family-based stories and touches on the significance of politics that disrupt the destinies of lives. James BENNING meticulously inspects a small North American town while Ignacio AGÜERO devises a film that leaves notes for a film to be made in the future through a book of history. Heinz EMIGHOLZ reveals the capitalist influence on public spaces that meet at the intersection between modern and contemporary society through the works of several Central and South American architects. Laura POITRAS leads her audience into the struggle against Big Pharma’s excess and abuse, along with a portrait of the artist Nan Goldin while Paul SCHRADER presents a new narrative on violence and salvation. Claire DENIS creates a charming character trying to escape from Nicaragua while reflecting political fundamentals and Eugène GREEN narrates a realistic fable centering on the living and the dead. ADACHI Masao chronicles the most shocking political incident in modern Japanese society through a short but powerful drama, while Radu JUDE recounts the famous history of the battleship Potemkin. On top of this line-up, two of Asia’s master filmmakers, China’s WANG Xiaoshuai and Japan’s SAKAMOTO Junji show social behavior in periods of struggle set in the past, far from today.

All these directors demonstrate with each of their most recent films a state of the world and also a state of cinema. The world is at a boiling point. These times that we have to live are not quiet times. Perhaps this interest in the world that these directors show in their films, without ever leaving aside the tools of cinema, is what truly justifies the name of masters.

Programmer Sung MOON