In the five years I have worked as a programmer for the JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF), it has never been as hard as this year to complete the line-up for Korean Cinema. This was because the films that didn’t make the Korean Competition section and films by veteran filmmakers with at least three titles under their belts presented more fiercely competitive titles than ever before. There were many titles I wanted to show our audience in addition to the 17 selected in Korean Cinema, so it’s unfortunate that we have a limit to the size of the programming.
Documentaries are the strongest players in the 25th JEONJU IFF’s Korean Cinema section. They not only take up the biggest portion with 6 titles out of 17, but they also cover a wide spectrum in terms of quality, from commercial subject matter to films with experimental approaches. Words from the Wind (YANG Hee) is probably one of the most easily approachable films for the general public. YANG Hee was the writer of documentaries such as Lee Changjae’s On the Road (2012) and Our President (2017), as well as Kang Sang-woo’s Kim-Gun (2018). Her debut feature encaptures the art world of the legendary composer Kim Hee-gap who wrote over 3,000 songs in his lifetime. The countless songs of Kim Hee-gap will ring in the ears of the audience. Gwangcheon-dong, Mr. Kim (PARK Donghee, KIM Hwangyeong) captures the diverse projects of the media artist KIM Hwangyeong in an effort to remember Gwangcheon-dong, Gwangju and its people who might not be well-off financially but are wealthy at heart. There are also titles that make us revisit our painful past. VOICES (JEE Hyewon) is a documentary that records the Jeju uprising from the female perspective, and it reconstructs the desperate and heartbreaking history through the testimonies of the women who are still alive. A Song of Korean Factory Girls (LEE Won-sik) painfully describes the lives of women who were employed in the Japanese spinning industry before and after the Japanese colonial period, based on the records left by the female workers. These two documentaries are similar in that they both focus on the lives of women and their testimonies. There are also documentaries with experimental approaches. Letters from the Shattered Years (OH Minwook) is the newest film by director OH Minwook who is based in Busan. Told in a letter-like format, this film is an extension of his previous films Letters To Buriram (2019) and Eternal Brightness (2022). Colorful Lin (LEE Wonwoo), the filmmaker proposes all kinds of questions and thoughts on horses since his coincidental confrontation with a group of horses in the middle of Seoul in 2010.
As usual, familiar names to JEONJU IFF are returning this year with their newest films. Director SHIN Dong-il of the short film The Holy Family (2001) and feature Bandhobi (2009) which both screened at JEONJU IFF presents a new heartwarming road movie, Mungyeong: More than Roads. A woman burnt out from work visits Mungyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do for a break, where she forms tender relationships with a bhikkhuni and the villagers. Another regular at JEONJU IFF is director JUNG Hyung-suk who won the Korean Competition’s Grand Prize in 2018 with The Land of Seonghye and revisited the festival last year with Persona a strange girl. This year, he introduces The Flu. It tells the story of a director who struggles to make a film he’s happy with, and as the actor-turned-filmmaker JUNG Hyung-suk stars in the main role himself, it feels more personal. After presenting his debut feature Back from the Beat (2018) as well as his more recent film The layover (2021) at the festival, director CHOI Chang-hwan also returns with Journeys in Math and Genetics. A young boy named Hyung-ju who’s talent in mathematics goes on a search to find his biological father. It’s both humorous and heartwarming. KIM Hyunjung, who received the Best Director Prize in the Korean Competition for Shorts last year with Ghost Play (2023), returns with a new feature called Letters Unreeling. In it, a narrative film director who is struggling with their newest film visits a coal mine village in Gangwon-do to help an acquaintance who is a documentary filmmaker. It questions the essence of film as an art medium and the act of filmmaking. JANG Gun-ho who presented his feature film Shit Can (2023) last year at JEONJU IFF will present Body of Light this year. It follows a female protagonist who was adopted to the US but is somehow subconsciously drawn to visit Chuncheon. The film uniquely touches upon the themes of fate and karma, and it stars the mimist YU Jinkyu who starred in the director’s previous title, Mimist (2021).
We mustn’t forget about family stories that can often be hurtful and chaotic, but also comforting. The family in Wintering (JANG Jun-young) seems to be hopeless. Yeon is the middle daughter of three. When they notice that their mother is showing signs of dementia after taking care of their grandmother for 30 years, the three sisters try to navigate through their bitter family history. Young Woo-dam has a love-hate relationship with her family in Home Sweet Home (OH Seho). She’s the 4th child out of 9. When she’s finally about to get a room of her own thanks to her older sisters who moved out to escape, she’s faced with another situation. Her older brother has brought someone from school Woo-dam is far from close with. Meanwhile, Eun-jin in Between the two of us (SUNG Jihye) is a woman suffering from a spinal cord disability and relies desperately on her family. When she gets pregnant, everyone tries to dissuade her to no avail, and she does all she can to give birth. This film shows how difficult it is for women with disabilities to form their own families through childbirth in the current Korean society.
Stories of growth and love are also categories we must cover. When This Summer is Over (JANG Byungki) is the story of Ki-jun who becomes the scapegoat of his mother’s real estate obsession and is forced to transfer to a school in an area where he has no connections. Among the children who are growing up on their own accord as the result of the adults’ vain desires, Ki-jun somehow finds his way of getting around and adjusts. It’s not a typical coming-of-age story, but it’s possible to discover a different meaning of “growth” in this world of children where the adults’ world also reflects. Boy in the Pool (RYU Yeon-su) is a romance film with unique sentiments. Seok-young moves to an unfamiliar place due to her family’s circumstances where she meets Woo-ju, a young boy who is talented in swimming. Through their meeting and parting, the film shows their growth as they realize the meaning of life. 1, 2, 3 Love (KIM Oki) is famous saxophone player KIM Oki’s first feature film. At first, it seems to be a multiverse film with a few intertwining stories centering around characters Soojeong and Soo Ja, but what is consistently emphasized is love. Directors Ryu Hyun-kyung, Kim Eui-sung and Lee Jong-pil appear in the film, and in the animated scene in the middle of the film, you can hear the voices of Park Hae-il and Bek Hyun-jin.
Meanwhile, YOO Jitae Shorts Collection in the Korean Cinema for Shorts presents the shorts by director YOO Jitae who is famous as an actor but has also been consistently directing films. In addition to his newest title Talk To Her, his debut film The Bike Boy (2003) and Out of My Intention (2007) will be screened. Also, Jiyul who expressed her wishes to protect the Naeseong River with her documentaries Following Sand River (2012) and Naeseong River, a Letter on the Water (2014) will present Swallows, flying over the Naeseong River. This time, her film is about the swallows that call Naeseong River their home. In Chorokbam (2021) director YOON Seojin’s new film lover, the familiar faces of actors Lee Soo-kyung and Kang Gil-woo will welcome us.
Programmer MOON Seok
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Ten years have passed since the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry, but the scars in the hearts of the victims’ family members—and the South Korean public in general—have yet to heal. It cannot be said that the incident has been fully investigated, and the construction of a memorial to the victims remains a distant hope. The biggest lesson of the tragedy should have been the importance of systems for ensuring the public’s lives and safety, but even here, things remain adrift. If anyone out there is wondering why people are still talking about the Sewol tragedy, I would urge them to see the works that are being screened at the JEONJU International Film Festival’s special exhibition for the disaster’s tenth anniversary. These are films that grimly show the unjust fate of the victims, the tears of the family members they left behind, and a society without systems in place or people assuming responsibility. In the process, they encourage us to reflect on the painful memories of the past decade and find our way toward a new future. The six films featured in the special exhibition are works that either have not been shown elsewhere or have only been presented at a small scale for the tragedy’s tenth anniversary. Hopefully, this can be an occasion for sharing in that grief, healing our scars, and talking about a brighter tomorrow.
The only feature film presented at the special tenth-anniversary exhibition for the Sewol tragedy is When We Bloom Again, a co-production by the Documentary Group PINKS and the group 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and a Safer Society. The central figure is Byeongho, a father who lost his daughter to the disaster. After a decade of suffering and struggling, he is a broken man, his psychological state deteriorating. The film earnestly tells the story of a man whose mind is trapped inside the Sewol, as well as his family and other family members of the tragedy’s victims. This is the first feature film by director SHIN Kyoung-soo, whose previous work includes the television series Six Flying Dragons (2016) and The First Responders (2022). It stars Park Wonsang, Woo Mihwa, Jo Heebong, and Choi Deokmoon.
10 years after the sinking, Zero-Sum is a new documentary by director YOON Solji, whose previous documentaries about the Sewol tragedy include A Bucket list of a 17 year old boy (2015) and The First and Last Minute of My Life (2018). It observes how in the decade since the tragedy, there has been no explanation of the cause that satisfies everyone, and certain problematic aspects of the rescue process have yet to be fully investigated. The issues raised by different experts appear to be worth hearing out. It is being screened together with Still Waiting at Paengmok, a short documentary by director JANG Jueun that focuses on the lives of family members who keep a daily watch over Paengmok—a port located close to the tragedy’s site—despite the loneliness, cold, and struggles.
Three Sides to Every Story is an omnibus project combining three short documentaries. Grayzone by director JOO Hyunsook, the director of Yellow Ribbon (2019), looks at the reporters, documentary filmmakers, and freelance journalists who investigated the tragedy’s scene. It listens to them as they talk about how many reporters at the time came to be referred to as “scum” and how they even now suffer from nightmares about that day. In your room by director HAN Younghee focuses on two families cherishing traces left behind by the children they lost to the tragedy. Viewers can sense their grief through images of one mother who treasures videos of her son Changhyeon that even tell of misbehavior she was unaware of, or another mother who perfectly preserves the items left behind by her son Hoseong. ‘97 Drive tells the story of Minji, one of the Sewol tragedy’s victims, and two middle school friends; it was directed by OH Jisoo, who was the same age as the three of them at the time. It shares a warm and tender message through memories of Minji and tales of the three others’ lives: tragedy survivor Aejin, another friend named Hyejin, and the director, who joined the Sewol tragedy’s archiving team in the disaster’s wake.
Also presented at this special exhibition are SEWOL: Years in the Wind, which premiered in April, and Life Goes On, which premiered in March. SEWOL: Years in the Wind is a documentary co-directed by MOON Jongtaek, whose daughter Jiseong was among the victims, and KIM Hwantae, who also made the series People Who Don`t Take Up Arms (2003), Men Who Won't Pick Up Guns 2: Breaking a Taboo (2020). Using footage by MOON that documents the scene in detail, the documentary shows developments over the past decade as seen through the eyes of a victim’s father. Since its debut at the 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, director JANG Minkyung’s Life Goes On has been shown at numerous other film festival events.
The documentary shows families connecting with each other’s pain after losing their loved ones to societal disasters, including not only the Sewol sinking but also the 2003 Daegu subway fire and the 1999 Sealand Youth Training Center Fire. It also starkly presents the realities of a society in South Korea where similar incidents keep occurring, including the recent deadly crowd crush in Itaewon.
Programmer MOON Seok
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JEONJU Cinetour X Meet is back for its second year. It’s a part of JEONJU Cinetour, a program that aims to combine Jeonju’s prominence as Korea’s representative travel destination with JEONJU International Film Festival. Its main content is made to communicate with audiences visiting Jeonju via various programs including film screenings and talks with entertainment companies that take an active part in the Korean film industry, especially its independent film industry.
First, VARO Entertainment actors’ famous work will be screened: Jin Goo’s Mother by BONG Joon Ho; Gong Seungyeon’s Aloners, which screened in JEONJU IFF and received many awards; Lee Youmi’s Young Adult Matters by LEE Hwan, where she plays a pregnant high school student; and Bang Hyorin’s Hail to Hell, an adventure story of two girls. Furthermore, The King of Desert, a web drama of 6 episodes with Lee Hongnae and Jin Goo will be screened as well as short films Honor Guard with the rising actor Kim Sangheun and Lucky Ball with Park MoonA.
All VARO Entertainment’s major actors will attend JEONJU Cinetour X Meet. Starting with the opening ceremony of the 25th JEONJU IFF, they will attend Meet Class to talk about their work in depth as well as Meet Talk to share genuine stories. Diverse photographs and goods of VARO Entertainment actors in various Jeonju landscapes will be available to make it even more worthwhile.
Programmer MOON Seok
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