Hidden Road (2021) 

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, one of the most prestigious short film events in the world, returns for its 44th edition today with a program that includes seven works from Korea. Among the selections are three films in competition: Kim Cheolhwi’s Hidden Road, Jung Seunghee’s Invisible Eyes and Tack Lee’s Wasteland.

The three Korean films are among the 77 works competing in Clermont-Ferrand’s international competition this year, while Invisible Eyes is the only Asian film among the 16 animated films in the lineup.

Hidden Road tells the story of a car crash that sets off a tense situation between two characters, one of whom has lost his wife and daughter. Director Kim’s last film Exemplary Citizen (2018) was invited to the short section of the International Critics' Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival.

The animated film Invisible Eyes follows three children who chase a squirrel into a forest, where they discover something unexpected. Director Jung’s previous film A White Dog Over the Fog (2018) screened at festivals around the world.

In Wasteland, a woman seeks to bury her husband following his suicide. The film is the latest from (The Extreme Nightmare, 2019) director Lee.

Screening in the Lab Films Competition will be the animated film A Guitar in the Bucket, a co-production between Korea and Denmark from director Kim Boyoung, who previously visited Clermont-Ferrand with Impersonation in 2016.

Other new films include Baek Miyoung’s Piropiro and Jang Sungwook’s Stars on the Sea, which will both screen in Young Audiences programs. Meanwhile, Shon Kim’s Korea-US co-production Bookanima: Dance (2018) will be featured in the ‘Let’s Dance’ thematic retrospective.

Korean films have long been popular at Clermont-Ferrand. Most recently, Byun Sungbin’s God’s Daughter Dances picked up the Audience Award last year.

This year’s 44th edition of the festival opens today (Friday, January 28) and runs until February 5.