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The 16th Jeonju International Film Festival’s Official Press Conference was held successfully
2015-03-31 15:38:00

The 16th Jeonju International Film Festival’s Official Press Conference was held successfully

- Introducing 200 titles from 47 countries, including Opening Film Partisan

- Planning expansion of spaces through new screening venues such as Jeonju Sports Stadium and CGV Jeonju Hyoja

The 16th Jeonju International Film Festival (Jeonju IFF) held official press conference to announce its line-up including Opening Film, overview of the feast, and main changes in Jeonju and Seoul on Tuesday, March 31.

Chairman of Organizing Committee KIM Seung-soo, Festival Director KO Suk-man, Executive Programmer KIM Youngjin, and Programmer LEE Sang-yong and JANG Byungwon attended at each press conference held at 10:00am in Jeonju Digital Independent Cinema and at 5:00pm in Seoul CGV Yeouido Screen 4. At Seoul press conference, directors and actors from ‘Jeonju Cinema Project 2015’ showed up. Director KIM Heejung, and main actor/actress KIM Taehun, PARK Sodam from Snow Paths and director LEE Hyun-jung, and main actor/actress LEE Sunho, KIM Bora from Samnye graced the event with their presence.

Chairman of Organizing Committee KIM Seung-soo greeted the audience by saying, “Small but solid Jeonju IFF will leap again with citizens this year.” Festival director KO Suk-man added, “The 16th Jeonju IFF tries to respect diverse preferences through the harmony of popularity and professionalism.” Regarding programming features, the increase of titles and securing the most seats ever are noticeable. The official titles for this year that were introduced at the press conference are 200 from 47 countries, which is 19 more than last year. Having more than 200 titles has been the first time since its 11th edition. Total number of screening venues is 6 theaters and 17 screens, including Jeonju Sports Stadium for Opening/Awards Ceremony and large-scale outdoor screenings, and CGV Jeonju Hyoja which is newly designated this year. With more titles, the number of screening time and seats has increased too, to more than 420 screening times and much over 90,000 seats.

Following was the announcement of changes in administration, program features and main films. In administration aspect, expansion of spaces was highlighted through using Jeonju Sports Stadium and CGV Jeonju Hyoja, in addition to Cinema Street. Jeonju Sports Stadium will serve as ‘lounge’ of the feast where citizens can freely participate. Moreover, as CGV Jeonju Hyoja which opened the second half of last year is newly added as main theater, they can provide the best condition for watching movies. Cinema Street in Gosa-dong will reborn with its literal meaning, by having various exhibitions based on the festival programs and performances as well as screenings.

Program aspects are also striking. First, Partisan, directed by Australian director Ariel KLEIMAN, will open the festival. This film was completed through Sundance Institute where Whiplash was also produced, and spotlighted as the hottest work at Sundance this year. Programmer LEE Sang-yong commented on the reason to select that film, “With his nickname ‘Sundance Kid’, Ariel KLEIMAN has been highly acclaimed with his short films at Sundance previously and I’m so excited to show his first feature debut.”

‘Jeonju Cinema Project’, renamed from ‘Jeonju Digital Project’ is also to be noticed. Following the change of shorts to feature-scale last year, they eliminated the outdated term, ‘digital’ this year. Also, focusing on programs that discover and illuminate new and creative artists and films, they arranged a retrospective program for Argentine director Martin Rejtman, and special program about ‘Greek New Wave’ films which have got great attention around the world since the latter half of 2000s for ‘Special Focus’ section. ‘Cinematology’, new section that screens movies about movie history or major film artists with the motto of ‘education for movies’, the leap of female directors which sum up to 27% of total titles, and continuation and reinforcement of South American network starting from 2014 are also remarkable.

Introducing blueprint of 2015 through press conference, the 16th Jeonju IFF will gear up to prepare a successful feast ahead of 1 month. After press conference on March 31, information about total 200 titles and main events will be presented on Jeonju IFF’s official homepage (eng.jiff.or.kr) on April 3. Following Opening Ceremony Reservation which opens on April 14, general screening reservation will start from April 16. The 16th Jeonju IFF will be held from Thursday, April 30 to Saturday, May 9, for 10 days.