Forgot password

 

 

Fresh, lively films that are just like spring sprouts are welcoming the new season. Those fests include Seoul Independent DOcumentary Film & Video Festival, Busan International Short Film Festival, Green Film Festival in Seoul, and Jeonju International Film Festival, to be held in March through May. Their films with diverse subject matters, forms, talent and passion are sure to please the audience.

 

 

 

Seoul Independent DOcumentary Film & Video Festival
March 24-31 www.sidof.org

 

This independent documentary film festival began in 2001 with the slogan of "Experiment, Progress and Communication." This year, the festival celebrates its 16th edition and opens with Slice Room by SONG Yun-hyeok. Slice Room depicts the life of people in public charge, who are unable to escape poverty.

 

The festival has four different sections that include New Domestic Film; This Year’s Focus; Forum Planning; and Asia’s Focus. New Domestic Film screens 9 full-length and 18 short documentaries. This section has received 114 submissions, the majority of which belong to what is called the "private documentary genre" as opposed to social documentary, in an essay-like style. Among the full-length documentaries are Drifting City by KIM Jeong, A Roar of the Prairie by OH Min-wook, and The Knitting Club by PARK So-hyun, while selected short documentaries include A day in Gwanghwamun by KIM Kyung-man, and The old lotus by JANG Yun-mi.

 

This Year’s Focus introduces films on prominent social issues including comfort women, sexual minorities and alternative education, and Forum Planning screens 10 private documentaries (a.k.a essay films) which have been in trend for the last few years, with the slogan of "Post Melancholia." In addition, Asia’s Focus presents the collective Asian reality with films like Under the Cherry Tree from Japan and Road Not Taken from Hong Kong.

 

 

Busan International Short Film Festival
April 22-26 www.bisff.org

 

Started in 1980, it is a non-competition film festival that partly operates competition sections. Planning to screen about 130 films from 34 countries, the festival has recently announced finalists for this year's competition sections.

 

Since last year, the competition section has been divided into two separate sections for Korean and international films. This year, the number of films in International Competition is 37 from 29 countries, while 17 homegrown films have been selected for Korean Competition. The preliminary jury stated the two key criteria of selection were: “short film-ness,” an identity as a short film that presents a film aesthetic that exists only in short films and cannot be expressed in a full feature film–hence can only be truly valuable as a short film, and “issue awareness,” which defines the subject and format of a film.

 

In International Competition are Senior Teacher by SHA Mo from China, Madness and Death and Empire by Mijael Bustos from Chile, and A Tale of Love by Kristof Hoornaert from Belgium. In Korean Competition are Fangs by SHIN Jong-hun, Seol-hee by BAE Yeon-hee and New Rapids by CHOI Jung-moon. This year's Guest Country, one of the main programs, is Austria. 24 Austrian shorts are to be screened.

 

 

Green Film Festival in Seoul
5.6-5.12 www.gffis.org

 

Launched in 2004, Green Film Festival in Seoul is an Environmental Foundation-operated non-competitive film festival that also has a competition section. Being an environment-themed festival, it provides an opportunity to meet a variety of environment-related films from all over the world.

 

The 13th edition of Green Film Festival in Seoul is already in the festive mood with the closing of submission for the competition section. For the competition section, which closed on February 12th, 321 feature films and 1,020 short films have been submitted from 111 countries. The biggest participants are Europe (44.3%) and Asia (30.3%), followed by North America, Latin America and Africa. In terms of genre, documentary occupies a majority share of 46.2%.

 

The competition section divides into International Environment Film Competition and Domestic Environment Film Competition, consisting of films produced from the last two years. The finalists will be announced on April 5th at www.gffis.org. In addition, Green Film Festival in Seoul operates a special program called Cinema Greenteen, which offers activities, screenings and exhibitions for children and young adults.

 

 

 

Jeonju International Film Festival
4.28-5.7 http://eng.jiff.or.kr/

 

Since its opening in 2000, Jeonju International Film Festival has introduced strong and unique independent art films that are distinctively different from the main stream. This film festival has been supporting new and talented directors’ works, and this year again, it is attracting film lovers to Jeonju with a unique program.

 

It has announced the 21 finalists for Korean Competition for Shorts on March 2nd with diverse subject matters and forms. Those include Soar by HONG Sang-yoo, The Game of All by JO Ye-seul and Deer Flower by KIM Kang-min. 

 

For Korean Competition, 10 very different films have been selected from 121 submissions, where the documentary genre shows a big presence. Mrs. B, A North Korean Woman examines the life of a North Korean woman who works as a refugee broker, and Breathing Underwater looks into the life of female divers in Jeju Island. No Preparation for Old Age is a documentary of a punk band's everyday life. Feature screeners include LEE Hyun-ju's Our Love Story, which depicts a love story of two women in a calm manner; and Curtain Call by RYOO Hoon, which shows the story of a drama team that is to perform a legitimate drama on the stage for the first time.

 

Jeonju Cinema Project 2016, which has changed its support scope from short films to feature films since 2014, presents Great Patrioteers, The Decent and A Stray Goat to the audience for the first time.