The 16th Jeonju International Film Festival announces finalists for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’!

- 20 films were selected from 609 entries

- Compete for Grand Prize, Best Director Award, and Special Jury Award at the 16th Jeonju IFF, which will kick off on April 30th

The 16th Jeonju International Film Festival (Jeonju IFF, Festival Director KO Suk-man) announces 20 finalists for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’. From last December 1st to January 30th, total of 609 films were submitted and among those final 20 films were selected through preliminary. Preliminary juries for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’ this year were film critics BYUN Sung-chan, NAM Daeun, and SONG Hyojeong.

Finalists sum up to 5 films from film school distributors, such as Korean Academy of Film Arts and Korea National University of Arts, 3 films from indie film distribution company, ‘Central Park’ and 12 films from individuals and other academies. As world premiere entry rate for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’ have highly increased from last year, 16 out of 20 finalists will have world premiere this year. Regarding genre, fiction films predominated like last year, as 15 fiction films, 2 animations, and 3 experimental films were chosen this year.

According to preliminary jury members, examination process for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’ mainly focused on experimentalism, originality, and controversial issue, which are the strengths of short films. NAM Da-eun said, “I tried to select films which consistently deal with somewhat controversial theme and raise questions.” Unlike recent years, the shortened running time was the other evidence that true short films are more than ever. BYUN Sung-chan greeted this trend as saying, “I was pleased to see the changed atmosphere that they try to approach shorts as one genre with its own aesthetics, not as a short version of feature films.

Finalists of ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’ will showcase at the 16th Jeonju IFF, which will be held from April 30th to May 9th, and compete for Grand Prize, Best Director Award, and Special Jury Award. Finalists for ‘Korean Competition’ which is about mid-length or full-length film for more than 40 minutes will be announced on March 11th.