23rd JEONJU International Film Festival Announces 9 Titles in Korean Competition

· 8 narrative films and 1 documentary film selected for Korean Competition

· Diversified subject matter, new attempts in genres. Stories about families and women increased

With just about a month to go before the festival, the 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Director LEE Joondong) announced the 9 titles selected for Korean Competition.

The 23rd JEONJU IFF’s Korean Competition is a section for a filmmaker’s 1st or 2nd feature film. Submissions for the section opened on Wednesday, November 24 of last year until it closed on Thursday, February 3, 2022. There were a total of 124 submissions which is a minor increase from last year which saw 108 titles. Programmer MOON Seok, who was on the jury, said, “The most notable theme for this year was family. Due to the prolonged pandemic, the critical attention we used to give to the outside world turned inwards to family and love,” as he explained the trend of this year’s submissions.

LEE Ji-eun’s The Hill of Secrets is set in the 1990s, and a young male writer is the protagonist. He is ashamed of his parents who sell salted seafood for a living. As he lies about his parents in his text, he questions about honesty which should come in hand in hand with writing. KIM Jinhwa’s Missing Yoon is a film about a mother who impersonates the singer YOON Sinae for a living, and an attention-loving daughter who would go as far as to record hidden cameras in order to get more views. Through their struggle to find the real star YOON Sinae who went missing, they reach new realizations about each other.

In addition to stories about families, several films about women were selected. KIM Jung-eun’s Mother and Daughter took the real life case called Nth Room Case as their motif. The story is about a daughter who suffers from the leakage of her video, and her mother who looks on the daughter. Among them, the story follows the mother’s perspective. In JEONG Ji-hye’s Jeong-sun, a mother and a middle-aged female factory worker Jeong-sun tries to live through the humiliation and contempt on her own after a video leak, and she even decides to make radical choices. The story’s flow was expressed in a powerful way and it is worthy of paying attention. CHOI Jungmoon’s When I Sleep is about three women who coincidentally encounter a disaster together on the street, reminding us of the true meaning of solidarity.

Meanwhile, a number of selected films made new attempts in genres. LEE Wanmin’s Archaeology of love is a unique love story about an archaeologist who longs to stick to her principles. HONG Yongho’s Havana may seem like a legal thriller on the outside, but underneath it is a heartbreaking love story. The protagonists of LIM Sangsu’s Drown are an elderly mother suffering from dementia and a man who is mentally stressed due to external circumstances. While blurring the line between hallucination and reality, the film pulls the audience into the huge allegory of Havana.

Director HONG Daye’s Saving a Dragonfly is the documentary selection which embodies the filmmaker’s desperation to save herself as well as her friends who are struggling like a dragonfly stuck in water. It desperately questions the meaning of attending university which she has been tormented about ever since she was a student preparing to write the university entrance exam.

About the overall submissions, programmer MOON Seok said, "This year´s submissions were diverse in subject matter, and there were many new attempts in genres." He added, "Seven of the nine selected works are by female directors, and they continue to be strong players in the industry. I hope this trend will continue, and to have female directors make strides in the commercial film industry too."

Review of Korean Competition at the 23rd edition

The 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival received 124 films in the Korean Competition section. One of the most prominent trends in this year´s entries was the theme of the family. As the COVID outbreak situation continues for a longtime, the critical eyes at the outside world seem to be shifting to the inner world of individuals such as family and love. Among the films dealing with family, the first film that caught my eye is LEE Ji-eun´s The Hill of Secrets. Set in the 1990s, the film´s main character, a girl, is ashamed of her parents, who sell salted fish in the market. Her parent´s presence becomes an even bigger hang-up for her when the girl gets recognized by winning an award in a writing contest at her school. As her repeated lies about her parents collide with her truthfulness, which should be the basis for her writing, she falls into deep trouble. Another family film, KIM Jinhwa´s Missing Yoon, tells the story of a mother and daughter searching for YOON Sin-ae, a singer who suddenly disappeared. The mother is a singer who always thinks of YOON Shi-nae and whose job is to mimic her way to sing, and her daughter is an ‘‘attention seeker” who wants to get more views in social networks even by secretly filming close people. As they go through sorts of hardships to find the missing star, they realize once again that they are precious to each other.

The woman story is presented as a variant of the family story. KIM Jung-eun´s Mother and Daughter is presumed to be based on "Nth Room" case as a motif. The main characters are a daughter suffering from her personal video being leaked online and her mother. As the title suggests, this film focuses a little more on the mother than the daughter. As the mother understands her daughter´s experiences and feelings, she gradually realizes her true "position as a mother" and eventually rebuilds her family. JEONG Ji-hye´s Jeong-sun is similar to Mother and Daughter in that the film revolves around a video leak incident, but it is different from the latter in terms of the film composition and the situation of the main character. The main character, Jeong-sun, is a mother and middle-aged woman who works in a factory. Focusing on the facial expressions and gestures of Jeong-soon, who is a party to the case, rather than the family issues, the film intensely depicts a woman who has endured human disgrace and humiliation alone. CHOI Jungmoon´s When I Sleep tells the story of three women who accidentally run into trouble on the road. The relationship between three people who are friends or family centered on one woman turns out to be insignificant due to an accidental incident on the road, but in the end, it becomes the beginning of a true relationship between them.

LEE Wanmin´s Archaeology of Love is an unusual love story of a woman who tries to stick to her principles. In the film, the story of an archaeologist woman´s love affair with a man 8 years ago is interwoven with the story of her trying to start a new love while still not completely free from the love for the man. Like an archaeologist who understands the essence only by looking at the relics after many years have passed, she cannot really understand the ongoing love and people living in the present. HONG Yongho´s Havana is a legal thriller genre on the surface, but it contains a heartbreaking love story. It is, on the one hand, is a sober court drama dealing with a woman accused of brutally murdering her husband, a lawyer trying to prove her innocence and her husband´s family chasing after her inheritance, and on the other hand, a passionate melodrama centered on a man who helps the woman in secret.

Drown, directed by LIM Sangsu, is a psychological thriller film centered on a man, who runs a motel while caring for his elderly mother who has dementia. He experiences great psychological stress from his mother, who rings the bell to call him too often, and from the people outside the motel who despise him. This film unfolds a creepy story in a situation where it is difficult to tell whether it is the man´s illusion or what actually happened, leading those who see it into the huge allegory of “Paroho lake.”

This year, where the documentary films leave something to be desired in both quantity and quality compared to the previous ones, Saving a Dragonfly by HONG Daye is the most prominent work. Director Hong asks earnestly about the meaning of the university through the stories of herself and her friends in the film. In high school, she started filming on camera because she did not want to lose herself in the difficulties to prepare for college. But her worries persist even after going through the repeat examinees period and entering college. The film is made with a desperate desire to save herself and her friends, like a dragonfly drowning in the water.

This year´s entries have become more diverse in terms of subject than in previous years, and many films showed an attempt at the genre. But overall, it must be admitted that the quality of the films has gone down. Their approach to the subject matter became less serious, and quite a few films missed the point even on good subjects. The diversification and expansion of platforms such as OTT and Web-Series may also be related to this trend, but the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the biggest cause. The creative conditions have also deteriorated, and the situation that prevents creators from focusing on something must have had a negative impact on their creations. I hope that next year, the corona crisis will end, and we will be able to meet a greater number of controversial films.

Lastly, there is one piece of hopeful news. The power of women directors continued to be strengthened, and this year, their number has grown noticeably. Of the nine films selected for the Korean Competition, seven are directed by women. I sincerely hope that this trend that started in Jeonju will continue and that women directors will make a huge leap in the commercial film industry.

JEONJU International Film Festival Programmer MOON Seok

Review of Korean Competition at the 23rd edition

1) ＜Mother and daughter＞(KIM Jung-eun)｜ Korea｜2022｜118min ｜DCP｜Color

2) ＜When I Sleep＞(CHOI Jungmoon)｜Korea｜2022｜116min｜DCP｜Color

3) ＜The Hill of Secrets＞(LEE Ji-eun)｜Korea｜2022｜122min｜DCP｜Color

4) ＜Archaeology of love＞(LEE Wanmin)｜ Korea, France｜2022｜168min｜DCP｜Color

5) ＜Missing Yoon＞(KIM Jinhwa)｜Korea｜2021｜108min｜DCP｜Color

6) ＜Saving a Dragonfly＞(HONG Daye)｜Korea｜2022｜85min｜DCP｜Color

7) ＜Jeong-sun＞(JEONG Ji-hye)｜Korea｜2021｜105min｜DCP｜Color

8) ＜Drown＞(LIM Sangsu)｜Korea｜2021｜101min｜DCP｜Color

9) ＜Havana＞(HONG Yongho)｜Korea｜2022｜101min｜DCP｜Color