10th Jeonju International Film Festival, April 30 - May 8, 2009

Film buffs take note:
Coming up next month - the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival, April 30 - May 8, 2009. If you love film making, or film watching it's worth taking a trip down to the city of Jeonju to soak up the atmosphere. Jeonju city is about 3 hours south of Seoul.
Full JIFF program available on website: http://www.jiff.or.kr/

Sections:
*The International competition - introduces the cinema of new talents worldwide and showing the potential of alternative cinema aesthetics. The section will screen feature films and documentaries with a running time of over 60 minutes. A jury committee consisted of five professionals will select the best cinema which will be given the Woosuk Award with a cash award of U.S $10,000. The second-best cinema will receive the Daum Special Jury Prize and U.S $7000. JIFF Audience Award will be also given to one film selected by JIFF audiences.

* 'Jeonju Digital Project'
Jeonju Digital Project is a digital film production project that not only has festival screenings in mind, but international distribution as well. The three directors, selected by JIFF, receive 50 million won for production costs. They each then produce an approximately 30 minutes digital film, to be premiered at JIFF, using digital video and digital editing equipment. As old as the film festival itself is, without a doubt, this is the core program of the festival.
Directors of 'Jeonju Digital Project' 2009: HONG Sang-soo (South Korea), KAWASE Naomi (Japan), Lav DIAZ (Philippines)

Carte Blanche
Three directors choose the film which they want to show to the audience for the section. These three films will be screened with their comments.

*SHORT! SHORT! SHORT!
Since 2007, JIFF started a digital short film project Short! Shot! Short! That supports three directors for their production of short films. This year, 10 South Korean Filmmakers; including both commercial, independent filmmakers will participate to celebrate the 10th anniversary of JIFF will be premiered at JIFF. The primary screening of the completed films by 10 filmmakers will be at Jeonju International Film Festival.

*Cinemascape - The latest works of masters which open a horizon of new aethetics and the films of remarkable new directors will be screened. Dramas, documentaries and foreign short films will be screened.

*KOREAN CINEMA - This section features dramas and documentaries that show the potential of Korean Indie films and new feature films that display the strength of Korean films.
Korean Feature Competition
This section introduces diverse works from Korean independent filmmakers. The best film will be given the 'JJ-St★r Award' and 10 million won. One or two remarkable films will be awarded the CGV Korean Independent Feature Film Distribution Support Award and will be supported by CGV for theatrical release after the festival. Also, 4 audience critics will select the best film, which will receive the Audience Critics Award and 2 million won.
Korean Cinema Showcase
This section shows noteworthy Korean films that have been made recently in the Korean film industry
Korean Shorts Competition
The Choice of Korean Shorts : Critic's week started in 2002 has been changed to complete competition. This section features latest remarkable Korean Short Films.(award related info will be announced)
*Local Cinema in Jeonju
Local Cinema in Jeonju was installed in 2006 in order to support and introduce local films produced in Jeonju. This section will provide a chance to check out the trends of local cinema artists.

*Cinema Palace is a section that will present the joy of film watching. Along with films in the Cinema Palace section, audience will vote for their favorite film which will be crowned JIFF Audience Award.

*Midnight Obsession
One of the most beloved sections of JIFF, Midnight Obsession is a midnight screening for film fanatics who are willing to stay up all night to watch films. It will be screened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

*Stranger than cinema - This section introduces experimental films which are not accessible to general theaters and gives the audience an opportunity to observe the vanguard of alternative film. Jeonju International Film Festival has been making true discoveries of hidden films from non-western regions for the last four years and as a result of these efforts, Cuban, Maghreb, and Soviet films were introduced at JIFF for the first time in Korea.

*Retrospective - Throughout the years, JIFF has presented retrospectives of worldwide masters, such as Hsaio-hsien HOU, Chantal AKERMAN, Pier Paolo PASOLINI, Rainer Werner FASSBINDER, Glauber ROCHA, SHINJI Somai, Ritwik GHATAK and Peter WATKINS.

*Outdoor screening - Films from Korea and abroad will be shown outdoors in the warm spring night. A chance to meet the respective films' directors and actors will also be presented.