Jeonju film fest unveils 2010 lineup

Director Park Jin-oh, well-known in the film industry for his original short movies, will receive the spotlight at this year's Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) set to run from April 29 to May 7.

The organizing committee for the film festival announced yesterday that Park's feature debut "Should've Kissed" will open the annual event, now into its 11th year, held in the city of Jeonju in the North Jeolla Province.

The selection is in line with the fest's focus this year on new up and coming directors and their newly released works, documentaries on various spectrums and short films.

Mexican director Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio's second full-length picture "To the Sea" will close the film fest. The movie, filmed in the format of a documentary, is about a father and a son who go on a short trip because soon they will part from each other.

A total of 209 movies will be screened at the fest, including 131 features and 78 short films from 49 different countries, the largest number of participants in the event's history.

Films will compete in three categories -- International Competition, Korean Feature Films Competition and Korean Short Films Competition -- and receive awards and cash prizes in nine different sectors.

The festival will feature a variety of programs including the Cinemascape where short movies produced in Jeonju will be screened and retrospectives on Portugese filmmaker Pedro Costa and Hungarian director Miklos Jancso.

The Jeonju Project Market (JPM), which began last year to celebrate the10th anniversary of JIFF, will also take place, helping the organizing committee to plan, produce, distribute to the making of independent, art and alternative films.

JIFF had also created the Jeonju Digital Project, where the committee provides 50 million won to three global filmmakers to produce a 30-minute digital film using only a digital camera and equipment. Directors Matias Pineiro, James Benning and Denis Cote participated in the project.

Korean actors Park Shin-hye and Song Joong-ki have been selected as publicity ambassadors for this year's festivities.

Reporter : Park So-yoen muse@asiae.co.kr
Editor : Lucia Hong luciahong@asiae.co.kr