Jeonju Film Festival to Go Ahead with No Public Audience

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Korean Film News

NEWS & REPORTS

Jeonju Film Festival to Go Ahead with No Public Audience

May 07, 2020

Writer by Pierce Conran
View2507

21st JIFF Working to Provide Online Screenings for Local Viewers

After initially postponing its 21st edition by a month owing to concerns surround the Covid-19 Crisis, Jeonju International Film Festival has announced it will go ahead but without a public audience. Instead, competition screenings will be held only for jury members and related filmmakers.

This year’s event will take place from May 28 to June 6 and while the public will not be able to enjoy the festival’s program in Jeonju theaters, the festival is preparing an online screening showcase for films where rights holders give their consent. Due to rights issues, whatever online screening program is developed will likely be limited to viewers with a Korean IP address. In addition, programs curated by JIFF will take place later in the year, depending on how the Covid-19 situation develops. Meanwhile, the Jeonju Project Market will once again take place, but will move to an exclusively online format.

While filmmakers of competition titles will be invited to attend limited screenings in Jeonju, this will not include foreign filmmakers, as any overseas resident currently entering the country is obliged to submit themselves to a two-week quarantine.

While the exhibition market in Korea never completely shut down, the public health crisis has led to a sharp decline in attendance which prompted major distributors to pull their major titles. Business is slowly returning and a major local film, the thriller Intruder, has been scheduled for release on May 21, but it remains unclear when theatrical business will return to normal levels.

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