The 17th Jeonju International Film Festival (Jeonju IFF, Festival Director LEE Chung-jik) closed entries for competition. Jeonju IFF has opened entries for competitions from December 1st of 2015 to January 29th of 2016. Overall, 782 films were submitted; 121 films for ‘Korean Competition’ and 661 films for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’.

Eighty seven feature films and thirty four experimental and documentary films have been submitted to ‘Korean Competition’ which has targeted one’s first or second feature films. Majority was first-time feature directors, yet there were directors whose previous film has made a big name. Award winners from last ‘Jeonju Project Market’ participated in this competition which indicates that they are led to production. In case of ‘Korean Competition’, there were 50 more films submitted than last year which shows a clear increase. Five hundred and four feature films were submitted which makes up relatively high portion than documentary and animation films. One of the distinct trends was that not only existing distributors such as Indiestory and Central Park but also new distributors such as Funnycon and Cabinet Film have participated in this competition. Number of entries by youth directors was also increased. More than twenty entries were from high school students; eleven entries from Gyeongi Arts High School and School of Performing Arts in Seoul. It is inspiring to see the increase in the number of films made by the youth, as the base is expanded for the rising stars that are seen as the future of Korean film industry.

Preliminary juries for ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’ are BYUN Sung-chan, NAM Da-eun and SONG Hyo-jung. BYUN Sung-chan and NAM Da-eun have participated in ‘Seoul Independent Documentary Film&Video Festival’ and ‘Indie Forum’ for years with depth of knowledge. SONG Hyo-jung received ‘Cine21 Film Criticism Award’, and performs in various fields currently.

As the competition entry is closed, the 17th Jeonju IFF is about to gear up for the festival which will run from April 28th to May 7th for 10 days. Finalists for ‘Korean Competition’ and ‘Korean Competition for Shorts’ will be announced in early March and compete for the main awards.