Jeonju Fetes Decade of Promoting Indie Cinema

In 2000, Jeonju, a small town in North Jeolla Province with a reputation for traditionally Korean things, became home to one of the country’s most future-thinking film festivals. Over the first decade of the new millennium, the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) has grown to become a major attraction for independent and art house cinema _ as ``the Locarno Film Festival of Asia.’’

JIFF celebrates its 10th birthday from April 30 to May 8 with a record lineup of 200 films from 42 countries. In addition to showcasing rare-to-see films from different corners of the world, various projects and events await festivalgoers for the special anniversary.

One of the JIFF’s unique features is that it commissions special films for the annual event, festival director Min Byung-lock told The Korea Times, Tuesday, in Seoul. This year, Korea’s Hong Sang-soo, Japan’s Naomi Kawase and the Philippines’ Lav Diaz take part in JIFF’s hallmark program, Jeonju Three Digital Shorts Project. Each year, the festival offers 50 million won to each of the three directors selected to produce a 30-minute work for the digital omnibus film.

``The Jeonju Three Digital Shorts Project has been like JIFF’s faithful child,’’ said Min. In 2007, the digital project won the Jury Award at Locarno. ``It was the first time an omnibus film ever won the prestigious prize, and the Jeonju Festival became internationally known because of it. We received positive feedback from foreign cineastes, who urged us to push on with this project which gives filmmakers an opportunity to experiment,’’ he said. For the festival’s anniversary, a special DVD set of all 27 shorts made over the years will be on sale.

This year’s event opens with another specially commissioned project, ``Short! Short! Short! 2009.’’ This omnibus film features works by 10 rising Korean directors. Choi Ik-hwan (``Life Is Cool’’), Kim Young-nam (``Don’t Look Back’’) and Yoon Seong-ho (``Milky Way Liberation Front’’) among others each contribute a 10-minute piece that offers creative social commentary.

In recent years, both omnibus projects have reached a wider audience as Three Digital Shorts was broadcast on cable TV in Korea and other Asian countries and ``Short! Short! Short!’’ was released online through the portal site Daum. This year however, the cable and Internet services won’t be available because both franchises will be released nationwide in theaters this fall.

The closing film is ``Machan,’’ directed by Uberto Pasolini, who co-produced ``The Full Monty’’ (1997). The neo-realistic comedy takes place in a slum town of Sri Lanka, where 23 people set out to become ``a national handball team’’ in order to secure visas to Europe.

Jeonju, Asia’s Locarno

JIFF has been committed to the discovery and promotion of new talent, and filmmakers are allowed to submit up to their second work for the competition sections.

``When I recently met the festival director of the Locarno Film Festival, he said our events are kindred spirits,’’ said Min about the prominent Italian event for independent cinema. Last year, the award-winning indie flick ``Daytime Drinking’’ premiered at JIFF and the Locarno programmer took notice and took it to Italy, where it won the top prize. >> Click here for more festival preview

Visit http://www.jiff.org/ for more information.