The 7th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) was held at the Cinema District of Jeonju from April 28 through May 5. During the period, 194 films from 42 countries were shown in downtown Jeonju. The opening film was Offside, dealing with the story of a girl in Iran who loved soccer where women are banned from watching it under suppressive Islamic culture. The director Jafar Panahi denounced the discrimination of women to the world through the movie. The closing film was a Don't Look Back which conveys the story of youths of today directed by Kim Young-nam.
Various Programs in the 7th JIFF
1. Indie Vision
This is the competition section, where independent films of new talents from around the world were aired. This section showed the potential of new film aesthetics by restricting the entries to only first or second films by directors. The WOOSUK Award and a cash prize of $10,000 were awarded.
2. Korean Shorts: Critic's Week
Originating in the 3rd JIFF in 2002, this section has now reached its 5th year. It aims to critically reevaluate short films produced in Korea. On the contrary to other many short film festivals which focus on competition in Korea, the critics are supposed to analyze the trends of Korean short films of the last year and publish a booklet showing the tendency of Korean short films while screening the films they selected in certain categories.
3. Midnight Obsession
One of the favorite sections of the JIFF, Midnight Obsession is for film fanatics who willingly stay up all night to watch special movies. These ran for three days, from Friday to Sunday this year. To silence those complaining about the small size of the screening hall and to give the movie-goers more opportunities to enjoy this section, these films were shown at the Cultural Center of Chonbuk National University.
4. The Retrospective Exhibition of Ritwick Ghatak
Ritwick Ghatak is regarded as one of the maestros in India and this retrospective exhibition commemorated his 30th posthumous anniversary. On evaluation that he tried to express his love for hometown and the traditions of India.
5. 10 Forbidden Plays/ Films from the Soviet Union
These Soviet Union Films which are collectively called the Allegories of Resistance were produced from early the 1960s to the middle of 1980s, but they were prohibited by communist regime in the Soviet Union until 1980. Since then, they have begun to be released.
On May 3rd, the Tribune visited Jeonju to report on the JIFF which is regarded as the second major International Film Festival in Korea, after Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). Whether looked upon by locals or tourist to Jeonju, it has a wonderful aura as a mixture of an antiquated atmosphere from the Chosun dynasty and an image of a modern city. Eye-catching artifacts such as a urinal-shaped mold, a variable geometrical box and the music stage were installed at the Cinema District to add to the unique atmosphere. The luminary, embroidery of radiating exotic lights and signs on the downtown night sky, brought about an illusion as if we were in a strange foreign country.
[Interview]
“Positive Communication between JIFF and Audience is the Key to Success!”
Tribune interviewed Jinna Lee who is in charge of the Publicity Team in order to know the secret of the prosperity of JIFF.
Q: Will you explain the public relation strategies for JIFF?
A: For PR strategies, we utilize not only previous mass media but also university club information booths to inform university students and the general citizens of Jeonju about JIFF. And, as you know, we we employed Choung Kyung-ho and Kim A-joong as Public Relations Ambassadors. JIFF is the first instance of making use of couple ambassadors. Thus, it succeeded in catching public attention and young people looked at the couple ambassadors with envy.
Q: What are the main factors why JIFF has emerged as the second major international film festival in Korea, second only to PIFF?
A: The increase in audience numbers compared with last year as well as the rise in overall satisfaction assessment is critical to the gradual growth of JIFF, I think. And also JIFF tries to provide rather popular films for the sake of the viewers as it is an audience-centered film festival. By showing movies from various countries, ranging from Europe, Hollywood, South America, Russia to India, JIFF has earned the reputation that it contributes to the introduction of new culture to Korean audiences.
Q: For what reason did JIFF change its slogan from Alternative Independence Digital to Freedom, Independence and Communication?
A: In general, people tend to think that alternative independence movie is too difficult to understand because it seems to be far removed from our daily lives. In this context, JIFF made every effort to get rid of its intricate image by changing slogans. Appealing to the audience, Freedom, Independence and Communication can be said to provide much more interest than before for people who love movies.
Q: Can you evaluate the highlights and low-points of the 7th JIFF?
A: I can give an indication of the good points as well as some regrets of the 7th JIFF. Firstly, the image of a newly-constructed box succeeded in arousing much interest and pleasure in audience members. In comparison to last year, JIFF built outdoor performance stages where people could enjoy not only music concerts but also movies this time round.
We had something else to be desired, also. The movie tickets were sold out during the weekends due to the popularity of the movies. However, the excess of demand for over supply of memorial souvenirs caused some trouble. These problems came up each year as they remain unresolved. Thus, we have to take action to deal with such problems, so as to prevent them from happening again. In terms of public relations, the star entertainers played an essential role. However, it seems that the entertainers only tend to draw a big crowd for the opening ceremony. It is the truth. So the more movie stars that visit JIFF throughout the festival week, the greater the audience will be.
As a second major film festival in Korea, the 7th JIFF successfully developed its special quality on the back of PIFF. By employing Freedom, Independence and Communication as its thematic slogan, JIFF successfully got away from stereotypical movies with intricate, profound issues that had the general audience estranged from them. As JIFF tries to get close to the audience, the audience immediately responded to it with acclamation to reward the attempt. The communication in audience interaction and feedback is one of the most important factors about JIFF as it received much affection from the audience. In comparison the local International Film Festival (GIFF), held here in Gwangju, a city designated as culture-centered metropolis ranks lower than JIFF among the international film festivals. It will even be difficult to guarantee our festival this year because financial support has been drastically reduced. In any event GIFF should be reborn to show its unique character and oriented according to the lessons of JIFF as pointed out above.