The 4th edition of the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) in South Korea wrapped on Sunday with Iranian director Nasser Refaie winning the top award in the Asian NewComers section with his film Exam. The debut work centers around a group of Iranian women who gather to take a university entrance examination.

The festival's Daring Digital Award for challenging digital works was presented to German director Marc Ottiker's 1/2 The Rent, a film produced by Wim Wenders about a young fugitive. Meanwhile an audience award was presented to David Cronenberg's Spider starring Ralph Fiennes.

Despite concerns about SARS in the Asian region, which led to the cancellation of some guest visits, JIFF's fourth edition drew upwards of 60,000 ticket sales, an increase on the previous year. To date, South Korea has yet to record a confirmed case of SARS.

This year's JIFF ran for 10 days from April 25 to May 4, featuring a total of 170 films. The festival is considered one of Korea's top three film events, together with the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in July and the Pusan International Film Festival in October. It specialises particularly in digital works and Asian independent cinema.

This year's JIFF was also the first under new management, with festival director Min Byung-lock taking over from former director Choi Min, and programmers Kim Eun-hee and Jung Soo-wan replacing former programmer Seo Dong-jin.