The 43rd Seoul Independent Film Festival to Offer Largest Program Schedule Ever

NEWS & REPORTS
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Feature

NEWS & REPORTS

The 43rd Seoul Independent Film Festival to Offer Largest Program Schedule Ever

Nov 14, 2017

Writerby Christopher Weatherspoon
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Will Also Feature Retrospectives for Late Directors HONG Ki-Seon and PARK Jong-pil

The Seoul Independent Film Festival (SIFF) will kick off its 2017 edition at the end of November. Now in its 43rd year, SIFF has become one of Korea’s most important outlets for discovering and promoting homegrown, independent filmmaking talent. This year’s selection committee announced that it had received 1,237 entries which is a record for SIFF. The festival will screen a total of 139 films, about 50 more than usual, across five sections: Competition, New Choice, Special Invitation, Special Screening and International Invitation.

Opening Film:

SIFF will open with the world premier of drama Cinema with you, a three part omnibus film featuring works by up and coming, young Korean directors YOO Ji-young, JEONG Ga-young and KIM Tae-jin. YOO, whose short film Confession (2011) earned the Best Director and Grand Prize awards at the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) and Seoul International Women’s Film Festival respectively, recently completed her first feature film Duck Town (2017) which screened in competition at this year's JIFF. JEONG’s most recent work Hit the Night (2017) was one of the recipients of the Vision Award at this year's Busan International Film Festival while KIM’s previous film Winter Dreams (2015) was selected for competition for the 2015 edition of SIFF.

Festival Competition:

With the festival’s record number of entries, the selection committee noted that this year’s range of submissions was “wide and deep” and covered many trending themes in independent cinema, from social issues to personal anguish. The committee also acknowledged that this year’s submissions included an especially high number of entries from women filmmakers, a testament to South Korea’s continued effort to increase the diversity of voices in cinema. In the end, a total of 38 films, 28 shorts and 10 features, were chosen for the festival’s Competition section. Features include A Haunting Hitchhike (2017) by JEONG Hee-jae, LEE Kang-hyun’s Possible Faces (2017), HEO Chul-nyung’s documentary The Whispering Trees (2017), LEE Il-ha’s dueling protests documentary Counters (2017), Soseongri (2017) by PARK Bae-il which was the recipient 2017 Mecenat Award at this year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), KIM Ui-suk’s After My Death (2017) which not only picked up the New Currents Award at this year’s BIFF, but also the Actress of the Year for the film’s lead JEON Yeo-bin, KIM Joong-hyeon’s BIFF Vision Award winning drama February (2017), recipient of this year’s BIFF FIPRESCI Award Last Child (2017) by SHIN Dong-seok, from female director JEON Go-woon BIFF 2017 CGV Arthouse Award winner Microhabitat (2017) and KIM Dae-hwan’s The First Lap(2017) which won the Emerging Director Award at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival.

Special Invitation section:

This year’s Special Invitation section features a wide selection of award winning films. Overall the section includes 22 narrative films, 6 documentaries, 1 animation and 1 experimental film. Features include MIN Byung-hun and LEE Sang-hun’s The Emperor (2017), acclaimed documentary filmmaker KIM So-young‘s tale of exiled North Korean students living in Russia Goodbye My Love North Korea (2017), LEE Hwan’s runaway teenager drama Park Hwa-young (2017) GU Ja-hwan’s Haewon (2017), melodrama A Tiger in Winter (2017) by LEE Kwang-kuk who previously helmed A Matter of Interpretation (2015), JEONG Jae-eun’s urban planning documentary Ecology in Concrete (2017), CHOI Heon-kyu’s teen drama So-eun’s Knee (translated title) (2017), OH Jung-hun’s eco-friendly farming themed documentary Rice Flower (2017) and KO Bong-soo’s heartwarming teen drama Loser’s Adventure which received the Daemyeong Culture Award at the 2017 Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF).

New Choice section:

The New Choice section focuses on new directors and the feature film selections are comprised of a mixture of acclaimed fiction narratives and documentaries. This year’s New Choice section feature program includes BYUN Gyu-ri’s award winning documentary Play On (2017), KIM Bo-ram’s For Vagina’s Sake (2017), WOO Yoonsik’s drama ROTARY (2017), Gwon Gyung-won’s Courtesy to the Nation (2017), Baek-gu (2017), a dog documentary by another female director named KIM Bo-ram, and the world premier of LIM Jung-hwan’s The King of the Border (2017). Additionally, 20 short films were chosen for the New Choice section.

Special Screenings:

The Special Screening section will offer films across two sections: A retrospective of the works of late Korean filmmakers HONG Ki-seon and PARK Jong-pil, and a program devoted to Korean web dramas. HONG, who recently passed away after completing his latest film The Discloser (2017) was a founding member of the influential Seoul Film Collective and is considered one of the key forces in establishing the Korean independent film movement. Known for his interest in social awareness and exposing social injustices experienced by the disenfranchised, Hong’s credits include such legendary films as Surise (1984) and Parangsae (1986), both of which have been digitally remastered and will be screened at SIFF. PARK was a documentary filmmaker and activist whose works highlighted the issues met by the poor and handicapped. SIFF will screen several of his films including Endless Struggle - EPHPHATHA (1999) and Report on the Strife for the Disabled's Mobility Right-Let's Take a Bus! (2002). Meanwhile, the “New Web Drama Showcase: Expansion of Making Independent Films” has also been added to the Special Screening section. Created to examine the connection between Korean web dramas and Korean independent film production, the New Web Drama Showcase will feature two series: YOON Seong-ho’s 12-episode drama Green Fever (2017) and Idol Fever (2017) which YOON directed with PARK Hyun-jin and features idol-actor group SURPRISE U as well as cameos from several Kpop stars.

This year’s International Invitation section includes a strong selection of recent, critically acclaimed, award winning films that have screened at major festivals around the world. The list includes Japanese director ISHII Yuya’s drama The Tokyo Night Sky is Always the Densest Shade of Blue (2017), from Kazakhstan Zhanna ISSABAYEVA’s Sveta (2017), Bojan VULETIC’s Requiem for Mrs. J (2017), from India, Amit V MASURKAR’s dark comedy Newton (2017), WANG Bing’s Chinese-European co-production and 2017 Locarno Golden Leopard winner Mrs. Fang (2017), also from China, GENG Jun’s comedy Free and Easy (2017) and XU Bing’s documentary Dragonfly Eyes (2017), and documentary AlphaGo(2017) by American filmmaker Greg KOHS.

The 43rd Seoul Independent Film Festival will run from November 30th to December 8th and will offer screening at three locations: the CGV Arthouse in Apgujeong, Indie Space, and the Seoul Art Cinema.

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