2011 marks the 50th year since Korea and Portugal established diplomatic ties. To celebrate the anniversary, the Jeonju International Film Festival has prepared a special screening which will show selected 11 remarkable works of Portuguese film history, a history with unique aesthetic tradition. Although Portugal is a film powerhouse which has produced many master directors, the Korean public has never had the chance to experience the entirety of Portuguese films with its rich historical tradition. With the exception of a Jeonju International Film Festival introduction to the works of representative directors such as Manoel de Oliveira and Pedro Costa (in 2010), there have at best only been sporadic showings of a few Portuguese films in Korea. In fact, Portugal has been developing its film tradition since the end of the 19th century, right after the Lumiere brothers first showed their film to the world, with first film experiments made in Invicta Films established by Aurelio da Paz dos Reis. Furthermore, it has created a distinct aesthetic tradition, such that the late great film critic João Benard da Costa famously said, ―The dominant genre in Portuguese cinema is Portuguese cinema itself.‖ The 11 hidden gems which will be introduced this year in the Jeonju International Film Festival will, though belatedly, lead the viewers into a new world.

The special screening is composed of two programs.

SPECIAL: PORTUGUESE CINEMA 2- BEFORE AND AFTER REVOLUTION

This program will show the films made before and after the bloodless Carnation Revolution of 1974, that is, the representative works made after the 1960's Cinema Novo which had created a new wave in Portuguese cinema history.

A total of 8 films will be screened: <The Green Years> (1963) by Paulo Rocha; Fernando Lopez's <Belarmino> (1964); <Besieged> (1970) by director António da Cunha Telles, who produced the first two aforementioned works; <Benilde or the Virgin Mother> (1975), considered the greatest masterpiece of Manoel de Oliveira; Rui Simões' <The Good People of Portugal> (1980), deemed as the film having the most comprehensive approach to the Portuguese Revolution; and João Botelho's <A Portuguese Farewell> (1985), the first Portuguese film to officially deal with the Colonial War. In particular, directors Rui Simões and João Botelho will be visiting Korea during the festival and hold an in-depth discussion with the audience of JIFF.