1,169 films are participating in this year, 170 films more than last year

The 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival, which will be held from April 28 to May 7, selected Korean short films and began preparing for the film festival in earnest. The Jeonju IFF Organizing Committee announced that a total of 25 films, including 19 drama films, 1 documentary, 3 experimental films, and 2 animations, have been selected for the Korean Competition for Shorts. The total number of entries is 1,169 this year, an increase of 170 from 993 films last year.

Regarding the larger number of entries than last year, the film festival organizers said, "It is the result of fighting against disconnection, solitude, and helplessness in the ongoing Pandemic. Despite the limitations of reality, we appreciate the extraordinary and colorful attempts to imagine the cinematic time and space in a new way and restore relationships."

They also added, "The entries of this year overwhelmingly showed the themes that let us peek behind love and family relationships. The selected films are focusing on sufferings between lovers and couples, conflicts between parents and children, broken and separated people all calmly present new possibilities for connection and bond without being overwhelmed by excess or disgust."

The committee also announced that they selected 3 films of various genres, including comedy, thriller, and science fiction for the Korean Competition for the Local Cinema. The selected films for the Local Cinema, which marks its sixth anniversary this year, are targeted at the films made by college students attending universities in Jeollabuk-do, movie producers based in the area, or films that have been filmed at locations in Jeollabuk-do by more than 50%. Moon Seok, a programmer at the Jeonju IFF, said, "The completeness of the entries is increasing every year. Especially, various genres of movies were selected, including comedy, drama, thriller, science fiction, and experimental movies.”

The official poster of the Jeonju IFF, which marks the spring of the Korean film festival, was also released. This year's poster symbolically shows the image of light transmitting through the projector. Based on the triangle, it is characterized by the initial J of Jeonju and the numbers indicating the 23rd festival.

The 23rd Jeonju IFF, which will be held in the Street of Movie’ in the Jeonju area until May 7, will hold all face-to-face events normally even in the COVID-19 situation. A total of 230 films in the 18 sections will be screened.