The Frontline section well represents the provocative, independent, and innovative perspective of the JEONJU International Film Festival. Especially in the past year, many documentaries have been produced to reflect conflicts and tensions worldwide. Among them, eight controversial documentaries will be screened, which examine various social issues from a critical perspective and present events arising from tragic political situations from a rebellious viewpoint.
Sara and Yusra Mardini sisters, who were both swimming athletes in Syria, but had to escape by risking their lives when Syria was engulfed in civil war. Their dramatic story was developed into a film called The Swimmers (2022). The documentary Long Distance Swimmer – Sara Mardini portrays older sister Sara’s difficulties and discrimination when she gives up swimming, which was her dream, after her asylum in Germany and begins humanitarian activities for refugees. Meanwhile, the feature film In the Land of Brothers describes how Afghan refugees who immigrated to Iran to escape the Taliban struggle to make an ordinary family in a foreign country.
On the other hand, the documentary Hollywoodgate captured the shocking truth of the Taliban regime using massive military equipment, left behind by the US military in Afghanistan in 2021, to prepare for a war against neighboring Tajikistan. The documentary Danger Zone shed light on the people spending vacations in war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Mogadishu in Somalia. The movie depicts people who do not trust the media and seek to witness what is going on in the conflict zones, or those who dream of having a more stimulating trip away from their every life, and evokes bitterness.
The feature film Terrestrial Verses mocks Iran’s suffocating reality, such as prohibiting Western way names for children and censoring movie scripts and the documentary Total Trust captures China’s reality where any action against the government is not allowed through various biometric technologies, a new type of video surveillance system, and censorship on social media, are the stories that questioning whether these are really happening in the 21st century. The Chilean documentary Malqueridas delivers the stories of female prisoners who serve long-term sentences through the images they capture on smartphones. The French feature film Yannick takes place in a theater where the performance is in full swing, and a disturbance unfolds caused by an audience unhappy with the theatrical performance’s content. Both directors’ fresh and provocative attempts stand out.
Programmer CHUN Jinsu
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