Korea’s Jeonju film festival 2024 lineup includes Sewol ferry disaster screenings

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When We Bloom Again

Source: Jeonju IFF

‘When We Bloom Again’

South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival (May 1-10) has revealed the full programme for its 25^th edition, which will include a series of screenings to mark the 10^th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster.

The festival will comprise 232 films from 43 countries, opening with Sho Miyake’s romantic drama All The Long Nights and closing with Kazik Radwanski’s Canadian drama Matt And Mara. Both screened at the Berlinale in February.

Among the line-up are six films to commemorate the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, 2014, in which more than 300 people died, most of them high school students on a field trip. The titles are led by the world premiere of Shin Kyoung-soo’s When We Bloom Again, a drama that centres on a father who lost his daughter to the disaster. The remainder of the special section are made up of documentaries, including world premieres of 10 Years After The Sinking, Zero-Sum by director Yoon Sol-ji and Still Waiting At Paengmok by Jang Ju-eun.

“Ten years have passed since the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry, but the scars in the hearts of the victims’ family members – and the South Korean public in general – have yet to heal,” said JIFF programmer Moon Seok. “These are films that grimly show the unjust fate of the victims, the tears of the family members they left behind, and a society without systems in place or people assuming responsibility.”

Unveiling its selection of 10 international competition titles, the festival said it had received 747 films from 81 countries – a record number of submissions, up nearly 24% on last year’s 604 films.

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The section, open to director’s first or second films, is dominated by debut features. They include documentaries After the Snowmelt by Lo Yi-Shan, about a hiker who died while trekking in Nepal, and KIX from directors Balint Revesz and David Mikulan, which follows a young boy from an impoverished background in Hungary who causes a man’s death.

Fresh from winning the GWFF best first feature award at the Berlinale is Cu Li Never Cries by Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Ngọc Lân alongside Laura Ferrés’ Spanish drama The Permanent Picture, which premiered at Locarno and won best film at Valladolid International Film Week in October.

Two films from Ukrainian directors include Oxygen Station, the second film from Ivan Tymchenko after 2019’s Beshoot, about a group of Tatars from the Crimea who were oppressed and made political prisoners, meaning they were unable to return to their homeland under Soviet rule in 1980. La Palisiada marks the directorial debut feature of Philip Sotnychenko and follows a detective and forensic psychiatrist as they investigate a murder case that happened five months before the death penalty was abolished in Ukraine in 1996.

The competition is rounded out by Junkyard Dog from French actor and director Jean-Baptiste Durand; The Major Tones by Argentina’s Ingrid Pokropek; Practice from Norwegian director Laurens Pérol; and My Endless Numbered Days by Singapore’s Shaun Neo.

All are Asian premieres with the exception of My Endless Numbered Days, which will receive its international premiere in Jeonju.

After collaborating with Disney last year on an event themed around Star Wars, this year’s festival will include a pop-up zone themed around Pixar, including a special screening of around 30 minutes of footage from upcoming feature Inside Out 2.

Like last year, the festival will take place during an ongoing construction project to create space dedicated to the film festival so will take place at venues throughout the city. The opening event will again be held at the Sori Arts Center of Jeollabuk-do while the closing ceremony will take place at the Jeonbuk National University Cultural Centre.

Organisers also addressed ongoing challenges for film festivals in Korea. “Since late last year, a series of media reports have focused on the government’s cutting down on the film festival budget,” it said in a statement. “We are no exception, although a significant increase in sponsorship, ticket, and merch sales helped us to gain financial independence to a certain extent.”

JIFF added that it did “consider downsizing the festival” but has maintained the size of the event due to support from Jeonju’s city government-backed tourism promotion programmes.