The 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Director LEE Joondong) announced the JEONJU lab selection and the projects of the JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition (hereinafter Next Edition). The JEONJU lab is to provide the participants with an opportunity to receive a mentoring program at the development stage for their film and video projects, while the Next Edition is a pitching program to support domestic and international feature projects.
For 60 days from November 15, 2021, to January 13, 2022, the JEONJU IFF received 41 submissions (17 domestic and 24 international projects) from 23 countries of 6 continents for the JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition. JEONJU Cinema Project is a representative industry program of JEONJU IFF for brilliant feature film and documentary projects to support their production. It aims to discover and support creative challenging feature projects from home and abroad. In case of international projects, JEONJU IFF will take charge of the investment and distribution of the film in Korea.
The JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition is a pitching program to select films for the JEONJU Cinema Project. After pitching, the final projects will receive a maximum budget of KRW 100 million (approximately USD 90,900) and be world premiered in JEONJU IFF 2023 after completion. The JEONJU Project team has strengthened support to arrange business meetings between industry professionals and the official projects from home and abroad.
The number of entries for this year's JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition has hugely increased compared to that of the previous years, and it was hard to distinguish superiority. So the JEONJU IFF decided to increase the Next Edition selection from three to four projects, for both international and Korean categories. The Pitching event will be held on May 2, 2022, during the festival.
| Title | Director | Producer | Country |
| 1997 | Tae Jun-sik | Kim Hwa-beom | Korea |
| Fixed Love, Fixed Girl | Lim Sun-ae | Park Kwansu Lee Seung-bok | Korea |
| Breath | Jeho Yun | Lee Ginam | Korea |
| My Dear | Lee Sangcheol | Shin Aga | Korea |
| Colors of White Rock | Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig | Tessa Louise-Salome | France |
| Gangsterism | Isiah Medina | – | Canada |
| Reality Show | Lam Can-Zhao | – | China |
| When Clouds Hide the Shadow | José Luis Torres Leiva | Catalina Vergara | Chile |
JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition Selection
Along with these projects, the final selection will be released at the Awards Ceremony of JEONJU Project, a total of two projects, each one project from home and abroad, respectively.
This year, Korean projects selected for JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition include: TAE Jun-sik's 1997, LIM Sun-ae's Fixed Love, Fixed Girl, Jero Yun's Breath, and Lee Sangcheol's My Dear. Among them, LIM Sun-ae's previous film An Old Lady sheds light on elderly sexual abuse, while Lee's My Dear is about schools for children with special needs, based on the original essay, No Words Like A Village Idiot.
International projects selected for the JEONJU Cinema Project: Next Edition include: Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig's Colors of White Rock (France), Isiah Medina's Gangsterism (Canada), Lam Can-Zhao's documentary, Reality Show (China), and José Luis Torres Leiva's When Clouds Hide the Shadow (Chile).
The JEONJU lab had recruited entries for 47 days from November 15 to December 31, 2021, and a total of 100 Korean projects were received. The JEONJU lab is a mentoring program to discover and support creative Korean projects regardless of genre or form. It nurtures various and new Korean content from their development stage. It is noteworthy that there is wider genre diversity in this year's entries, from YouTube content to web dramas, compared to the previous year. Especially, documentary projects have increased by more than 8%.
A total of 10 projects out of 100 entries were selected for the JEONJU lab. The juries for the JEONJU short were Park Heungsik (chief director of Jeonju Film Commission) and Min Sungwook (deputy director of JEONJU IFF). Also, Kim Ok-young (CEO of StoryOn, producer of Crossing Beyond, the official film of the PyeongChang Olympic Games), JEE Hyewon (director of Coming to You, Minu) participated as juries for JEONJU lab: documentary, while SHIN Su-won (director of Glass Garden), Director CHANG (director of Canola), and Lee Dongha (CEO of Red Peter, production company of Train to Busan) for JEONJU lab: Fiction.
| Section | Title | Director | Producer |
| JEONJU short | Christmas Rangmyeon | Kim Bin | – |
| Indigestion | Yang Dohye | – | |
| JEONJU lab: Documentary | A Web of sound | Yoon Juyoung | Kim Narae |
| Breakthrough | Im Yeonjeong | Her Yoonsoo | |
| Colors of the wind | Yeojin | Kim Minkyeung | |
| Find My Real DNA | Lee Hyewon | – | |
| JEONJU lab: Fiction | soar | Kim Dasom | – |
| Portrait of a Jeju Family | Kim Soojung | Kim Hwa-beom | |
| My Sister's Diary | Kim Jung-in | – | |
| Odd Man | Huh Gun | – |
JEONJU lab 2022 Selection
Four projects selected for the JEONJU lab 2022: Fiction are soar, Portrait of a Jeju Family, My Sister's Diary and Odd Man, while another four projects for the documentary category include A Web of sound, Breakthrough, Colors of the wind, and Find My Real DNA. Meanwhile, the JEONJU short offers support for short films produced in North Jeolla Province and this year's selection includes Christmas Rangmyeon and Indigestion.
| Commentary on the JEONJU lab |
| The JEONJU lab is a mentoring program to discover and support new challenging projects at the development stage. This year, women directors had substantially high percentages among the applicants. While the majority of projects deal with traditional subjects, such as social justice, class, wealth, and violence, some projects work out susceptive sensitivity about minorities with brilliant imagination with a wider spectrum of genres. Especially, the projects about the life direction of the young generation and new types of relationships stand out. We, juries, focused on the potentiality of projects according to the JEONJU lab's aim to support projects at the development stage. Although there were more projects that we wanted to select, the limit left something behind because we couldn't. For JEONJU lab fiction category: Looking into a family from a fresh point of view, Portrait of a Jeju Family is gentle but powerful. soar is impressive because it shows critical mind and alternatives on children grown in domestic violence. My Sister's Diary is somewhat classical, but it gives something to share about the work environments at the present and the 1970s. And fantasy project, Odd Man is remarkable thanks to its subject novelty and sound setting of the drama. For JEONJU lab documentary category: Find My Real DNA has a timely theme that criticizes duplicity of the older generation, as well as introspects the director's inner self who belongs to the young generation. Colors of the wind is about communication between the protagonist and a hearing-impaired old man. It subtly broadens its subject to an exploration of humans. A Web of sound handles the memory of violence with a variety of techniques, such as animation, performance, and painting. Its bold experiment on documentary format attracts attention. Breakthrough captures the director and actors in a form of action film making. A unique combination of fiction and non-fiction is expected. For JEONJU short: Indigestion tells about a Vietnam woman who learns Korean after marrying a Korean man. It has a solid story and brilliant description of subtle characterizations and details happenings. Christmas Rangmyeon is a calm and fine film following only the emotions of the characters without eventful scenes. It must need elaborate designs of the movement, mise-en-scene, and close communications with actors for its cinematization. We want to encourage and support all filmmakers who are indulging their passion for making projects under difficult circumstances. And we hope all entries will become good films in the future. The juries of JEONJU lab 2022 |
Although this year's JEONJU lab will not run a pitching showcase, it will enhance the mentoring programs at the development stage in order to focus more on filmmakers and projects. The 10 selections will be provided KRW 5 million and the intensive mentoring program with film professionals for three months. Also, the selected projects for JEONJU lab, both fiction and documentary categories, will receive the development grant (a total of KRW 20 million) commensurating with their performance after the mentoring program.
The 23rd edition of JEONU International Film Festival will be held around Film Street, Jeonju City of North Jeolla Province, from April 28 (Thr) to May 7 (Sat).
