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The 22nd JEONJU IFF Celebrates International Women’s Day by Announcing a Special Section “Special Focus: I am Independent”

? This special section will focus on female directors who left a remarkable legacy in the history of independent art film from the 1950s to the 2000s.

? Including Cecilia MANGINI (Italy) and HAN Okhi (Korea), the section will feature seven pioneers of independent filmmaking.

? JEONJU IFF will collaborate with Purplay, an OTT platform specializing in women’s films.

JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Director LEE Joondong) announced a special section entitled “Special Focus: I am Independent” to celebrate International Women´s Day on March 8. This special section will focus on female directors who marked the history of filmmaking.

JEONJU IFF’s Special Focus section is aimed at introducing creative, experimental, and innovative independent and art films that cover themes that are highly important this year or deserve to be revisited. This year, JEONJU IFF presents two special focus sections. Among the two, the festival unveiled details of one special section focusing on female directors. The section will introduce 15 works by seven women filmmakers from all over the world.

The directors to be featured in the section are as follows: Cecilia MANGINI, an Italian documentary pioneer since the 50s; HAN Okhi, who led a South Korean feminist experimental film collective, Kaidu club in the 70s; Forough FARROKHZAD, a poet and influential filmmaker of the Iranian New Wave; Barbara LODEN, who directed one of the greatest independent films of the 70s in the United States; Anna KARINA, a French New Wave icon and filmmaker; Cheryl DUNYE, an African-American filmmaker who established her own style of filmmaking, “Dunyementary;” and Albertina CARRI, an early pioneer of New Argentine Cinema. The section will showcase works by these directors including their directorial debut and representative works.

The first director JEONJU IFF will focus on is Cecilia MANGINI. She is considered to be the first woman documentarist in a post-war Italy. Her works include a number of projects focusing on post-war Italian lives. Her directorial debut Unknown To The City (1958) covers a range of issues concerning the unspoken side of urban development, a connection between religion and fascism, and the everyday life working class and women had to face, among others. Her bold and unique directorial techniques invite us to face social and political issues of that time. Also screened in the sections will be five other short films, mostly her early works: Maria´s Days (1960), Stendali (Still They Toll, 1960), The Marshes’ Chant (1961), Being Women (1965), and The Bridle On The Neck (1972).

Four short films directed by HAN Okhi will be screened. Even during the dark ages under the political oppression of the Yushin Regime, HAN Okhi, one of the very first filmmaking South Korean women, never ceased to experiment and research on filmmaking. She is considered a director who expanded the scope and horizon of Korean experimental cinema. She made films addressing questions to the viewers by constantly challenging them. She sought something new by conducting cinematic experiments as well as making films as a means of resistance. Four of her avant-garde and iconoclastic works will meet the viewers at the 22nd edition of JEONJU IFF: The Hole (1973), The Middle Dogs Day (1974), Colour of Korea (1976), and Untitled 77-A (1977). The upcoming masterclass will provide participants an opportunity to learn more about her filmmaking philosophy and the tremendous breadth of her works.

Also screened will be the only film directed by Forough FARROKHZAD, who is probably best known for her inspiration and influence on a virtuoso filmmaker, Abbas KIAROSTAMI. In the making of her 1962 documentary film, The House is Black, she spent 12 days living in a leper colony. In this film, she presents the lives of a leper colony, sending an indirect yet significant voice of criticism toward politics and religion of Iranian society behind doors.

Two additional films, directed by Barbara LODEN and Anna KARINA, respectively, will also be screened. Both LODEN and KARINA are probably better known as actors than directors. LODEN received a Tony Award for best actress in 1964 for her stage performance and wrote, directed, and starred in Wanda (1970). She said that the film was inspired by a newspaper report about a woman who was roaming on the street and ended up participating in a bank robbery. It was accepted by the Venice International Film Festival in 1970 and presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1971. KARINA, often referred to as the face of the French New Wave, starred in Jean-Luc GODARD’s masterpieces including Band of Outsiders (1964). She was a star actress but also had an exceptional talent in filmmaking. Her directorial debut, Living Together (1973) looks at a young, free-spirited hippie woman’s turbulent love story and her life afterward as an independent woman. It was screened in Critic’s Week at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973 and marked an early example of a star actor directing an art film, as opposed to a commercial film.

New Queer Cinema, which emerged in the 90s, has an outstanding landmark that well deserves to be revisited and reappreciated: The Watermelon Woman (1996), which is written, directed, and edited by an African-American lesbian filmmaker, Cheryl DUNYE. It is her feature film debut. Also will be revisited is Albertina CARRI’s The Blonds (2003), which follows the director’s investigation of what happened to her parents when they were abducted by the Argentine military junta.

Sung MOON, a programmer of JEONJU IFF explained as follows “Some of these films, at their times, were rather underappreciated despite their major significance. This could probably be due to gender inequality or nonmainstream. Now that we revisit these films, we find that they countered the conventions of society and industry. They tried novel experiments in filmmaking and highlighted topics that had been taboo. They showed empathy toward minority and unprivileged social groups. We hope the viewers enjoy the challenges the filmmakers posed to the world of their time.” She added. “Note that these films address questions about human existence and free will, both of which constitute universal human values. We are extremely excited to offer an opportunity to revisit these films with today’s critics and viewers. We hope that this section marks one important landmark as well.” Besides, JEONJU IFF plans to publish a book of reviews about the seven directors written by female film critics, focusing on their significance in the history of cinema. The book is tentatively entitled “Independent Women?seven notable directors.” They are also planning to release a special website focusing on this section.

The 22nd JEONJU IFF will be held on Jeonju Film Street from April 29 to May 8, 2021.