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What do Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, HONG Sangsoo, BONG Joon-ho, PARK Jung-bum, Claire DENIS, JIA Zhangke, Denis COTE, KAWASE Naomi, Darezhan OMIRBAYEV, Pedro COSTA, and György PÁLFI have in common? They are ‘Jeonju Digital Project’ alumni who made films with the support from the festival, which is now embracing its 16th edition. Launched alongside Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) in 2000, the ‘Jeonju Digital Project’ started as a short film project co-produced and distributed worldwide by the festival. Filmmakers with unique aesthetic were selected each year to share the festival’s vision. It’s a fact that for the past 15 years, the Jeonju Digital Project made great contributions to JIFF’s growth. Unfortunately, at a time when most films are now being shot on digital format, the project’s motto of ‘digital’ has somewhat lost its meaning. Furthermore, the project’s ‘omnibus’ format that grouped three individual shorts into one feature, set limitations for each project to have impact on a more significant and larger scale. Thus last year, JIFF went to revamp and changed the project’s format from short to feature length films which goes beyond the limits of film festivals, and aims for theatrical releases.

Since ‘Jeonju Digital Project 2014’ works had their world premieres at JIFF last May, SHIN Yeon-shick’s The Avian Kind was invited to the Moscow International Film Festival’s Main Competition, György PÁLFI’s Free Fall grabbed 3 awards including Special Prize of the Jury, Best Director and the Label Europa Cinemas at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and lastly, PARK Jung-bum’s Alive won the Youth Jury Award at the Locarno International Film Festival, the Best Actor and Obra Cinema Award at the Mar Del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina, and a ‘Special Mention’ at the Singapore International Film Festival.

 

From ‘Jeonju Digital Project’ to ‘Jeonju Cinema Project’
After the program became focused on feature length films, the Jeonju Digital Project titles won various awards around the globe. This year, the project changed its name from ‘Jeonju Digital Project’ to ‘Jeonju Cinema Project’. While embracing the project’s main purpose, the festival has eliminated the outdated concept of ‘digital’ and shifted its focus to ‘Jeonju’ and ‘cinema’. This is to reflect upon the true meaning of festival-produced projects that make Jeonju special in the worldwide film festival scene.

At this year’s ‘Jeonju Cinema Project’, Korea’s KIM Hee-jeong and LEE Hyun-jung, and Argentina’s Benjamin NAISHTAT were chosen. Benjamin NAISHTAT’s History of Fear won the Grand Prize in International Competition at last year’s JIFF. This film which was also in the Berlin Film Festival’s International Competition is a controversial film that received praises by few and was criticizes by the majority. It raised a similar response among the JIFF jury members as well as the audiences. Nevertheless, JIFF invited NAISHTAT for ‘Jeonju Cinema Project 2015’ because “the festival could not ignore his experimentally artistic nature and uniqueness”.

The two Korean talents who will each direct a film for this year’s program are names fairly unknown to the public. KIM Hee-jung previously directed two features: The Wonder Years and Grape Candy, where the former was invited to the Cannes’ Residence Program in Paris, an incubating program for first and second time young directors. Executive Programmer KIM Young-jin commented, “Despite the numerous invites from international film festivals, strangely, KIM Hee-jung’s films didn’t get enough critical and popular recognition. Her extraordinary ability to bring out a memorable moment in any subject matter using her own unique language convinced us she will definitely bloom through the third edition of our feature project program.”

LEE Hyun-jung’s feature debut film Virgin Forest was showcased at Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival: CinDi, which unfortunately has stopped running. Also her second feature Echo of Dragon was invited to the 2013 JIFF Korean Competition. JIFF commented that she is “a filmmaker who displays talent in the visualization of special subject matters not everyone can easily imagine”.

In line with the new project name, JIFF is planning to approach its production system and distribution business more systematically. The festival hired a Project Executive Producer who will reinforce production expertise and stability while handling theatrical distribution of the projects. The new Project Executive Producer SONG Hyun-young has participated in the production of films such as Failan, Way Back Home, A Reason to Live, A Fresh Start, 10 Minutes and End of Winter where he acquired extensive experience in both the independent and commercial filmmaking systems. With his recruitment, JIFF anticipates to expand its role as a platform for quality films from handling the production to the distribution of such films on long-term basis. 

The ‘Jeonju Cinema Project 2015’ had a good head start with El Movimiento which completed its 12-day film shoot from February 1st to 14th this year, followed by the 17-day film shoot of Snow Paths from January 21st to February 12th, and finally the 20-day film shoot Samnye from February 6th to March 1st. All three films are currently in post-production. The films will have their world premiere at the 16th JIFF, a 10-day event scheduled from April 30th to May 9th. 

 

   

Snow Paths
Director KIM Hee-jung   Cast KIM Tae-hun, PARK So-dam
Jung-woo, a man in his mid-thirties, searches for a sanatorium located deep in the mountains of Gangwon Province to overcome his alcohol addiction. There he meets the beautiful young nun Maria to whom he is attracted to. But his addiction to alcohol has him roam the mountains. There he experiences hallucinations that the fields are attacking him until he suddenly comes across a middle-aged hunter who is a frequent visitor to the sanatorium. With intentions of sharing the liquor stashed in the hunter’s backpack, Jung-woo joins the older man on his hunting excursion. When they get caught in a snowstorm, the two find shelter in a mud hut. But it turns out that the bottle which was thought to be filled with liquor contains the ashes of the hunter’s wife. To make matters worse, the hunter threatens Jung-woo to shoot him, or else they will never escape the mountains.

  

 

 

 

Director Benjamin NAISHTAT   Cast Pablo CEDRON
In 1830, tyrant Rosas rules the vast territories of Argentina in a reign of terror, mobilizing a political gang called ‘Mazorca’ and promoting his political legitimacy. A group of five Mazorca members turn up in the Pampas desert located in the northern part of Argentina. On a mission to assassinate Rosas’ political rival Gomez before his arrival at Pampas, the men start to terrorize neighboring villages in their search for Gomez.
 

 

 

  

 

“I hope we can expand the number of Jeonju Cinema Projects from three to five, and even ten in the future”

   

You’re the first Project Executive Producer for the Jeonju Cinema Project. How do you feel?
It hasn’t been easy developing a new system from scratch, but it was a worthwhile experience and I had a lot of fun going through the process.

 

What does it mean to oversee all three projects as Project Executive Producer?
I’m responsible for choosing projects, supporting selected works, settling accounts, and controlling the overall production schedule. I think it’ll be easy to understand my job as a position that supports the director’s artistic nature as an auteur while applying a commercial production system into our production concept. 

 

You were involved in the selection of ‘Jeonju Cinema Project 2015’. Can you identify some of the key points you focused on?
As a producer, it was inevitable for me to meticulously check each project’s budget. I examined in detail whether the project can be made within the budget offered by the festival. Content-wise, I tried to see what the director wanted to say.

 

I am curious of each project’s budget.
The general budget for last year was USD 162 thousand, but we reduced down to USD 90 thousand each for this edition. Until last year, JIFF invested a portion of the budget and received various investments from outside sources for the rest. However for this year, the general budget (full investment for Korean projects and 70% for a foreign project) is fully covered by the festival that will also present and handle all three projects. For future prospects, the festival is open to both full and partial investments.

 

Could you give us a few points on what we should expect from each of the projects?
Snow Paths’ protagonist is an alcoholic. The film is interesting in the way it is structured to follow the male lead’s emotional progression as he tries to cure his addiction at a sanatorium run by a nuns. Samnye is a picturesque film where we can experience the local landscape of Samnye. El Movimiento is a political history drama shot in black-and-white. If you come to the screening with some prior knowledge of Argentine political and historical background, you will surely find the film fascinating.

 

Unlike both Korean projects, Benjamin NAISHTAT’s El Movimiento must have been a challenge as it was a project shot on the other side of the world.
It wasn’t a problem at all. Through my experience in working with foreign directors, I find them much more aware of publicity protocols early in the pre-production stage. They’re efficient in providing film shoot coverage footage, film clips and still photos, not to mention meeting deadlines.

 

Are there any long term plans you have for the ‘Jeonju Cinema Project’?
For this year, we’ve pulled the date for receiving city grant earlier. The municipal budget is normally executed in January, and in this case, the Jeonju Cinema Projects have no choice but to start pre-production without a budget. And this also forces the projects to be shot against winter landscapes, shooting during freezing temperatures. In order to show diverse seasons in the films, and for the film crew to shoot in a better environment, we intend to be more practical. Naturally, project selection dates need to be moved up. In addition, I hope we can expand the number of Jeonju Cinema Projects from three to five, and even ten in the future. I hope to develop fun projects with auteur film directors compatible with the festival that appeal to a wider audience. 

 

After shifting gears to feature film projects, JIFF is getting involved in distribution as well. Can you explain the festival’s distribution strategy?
SHIN Yeon-shick’s The Avian Kind was theatrically released this February, and PARK Jung-bum’s Alive is scheduled for a May release in theaters. Furthermore, György PÁLFI’s Free Fall will be released in theaters during the second half of this year. All three films had to push back their release dates an entire year due to various international film festival invites. We hope to theatrically distribute projects the same year it is showcased at JIFF. Including during JIFF and post festival, we’re planning to have meetings with a number of distributors who can distribute our Jeonju Cinema Projects.

 

Photo by KIM Do-hoon