The 25th JEONJU International Film Festival Unveils

14 Juries and award categories

- Renowned Korean actors Yoo Jitae and Kim Saebyuk join Competition Jury members

- Acclaimed international filmmakers, critics, and academics will decide winners

- Selections made by the 14 juries to be revealed at the Award Ceremony on May 7 (Tue)

The 25th JEONJU International Film Festival (JEONJU IFF, Festival Co-Director MIN Sungwook and JUNG Junho), which is to begin on May 1 (Wed), announced 14 juries for the competition sections and the NETPAC Award, consisting of leading filmmakers.

■ Five juries for International Competition:

Deragh CAMPBELL (Actor/Writer), Matías PIÑEIRO (Director), João Pedro RODRIGUES (Director), YOO Jitae (Actor/Professor), HONG Jiyoung (Director)

Five filmmakers named as juries for International Competition. Deragh Campbell is a Toronto-based actor and writer, who works extensively from fiction to experimental films and stars the closing film of the 25th Jeonju IFF, Matt and Mara by Kazik Radwanski. Other jury members include Matías Piñeiro, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a film director based in New York, USA, and his latest film you burn me premiered in Berlinale 2024, and João Pedro Rodrigues, an internationally renowned Portuguese filmmaker who won prizes at the world’s foremost film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Toronto and Berlin.

For Korean juries, Yoo Jitae, who has appeared in various genres of films, such as One Fine Spring Day (2001), Old Boy (2003), Hwang Jin Yi (2007), The Swindlers (2017), and Money (2018), and has recently appeared in the Disney+ series Vigilante (2023) and the Netflix series Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area (2022). He is currently a professor at Konkuk University, College of Art and Design, Department of Moving Images. Finally, Hong Jiyoung, a filmmaker who has shown a wide range of directorial skills by crossing various genres, including The Naked Kitchen (2009), Horror Stories (2012), Modern Family (2012), Marriage Blue (2013), Will You Be There? (2016), and New Year Blues (2020).

The five juries for this section will give prizes the first or second feature films made by talented filmmakers from around the world.

■ Three juries for Korean Competition:

KIM Haery (Critic of CINE21), Giovanna FULVI (Senior International Programmer-East Asia of Toronto International Film Festival), THONG Kay wee (Programme Director of Singapore International Film Festival)

The juries for the Korean Competition section include Kim Haery, who has been writing as a journalist for Korea’s top film magazine CINE21 since 1995, and written books on film include Freeze Frame (2008), Descriptive Mind (2022), and Looking at You Looking at Me (2022), and Giovanna Fulvi, who has been programming for the Toronto International Film Festival since 2002. She is responsible for discovering and introducing audiences to the newest films and filmmakers of Asian cinema from regions such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. Also, Thong Kay wee, a moving image curator based in Singapore and the programme director at the Singapore International Film Festival, is announced for juries for Korean Competition. He was previously the programs and outreach officer at the Asian Film Archive from 2014 to 2021, and is actively working as a cultural worker

■ Three juries for Korean Competition for Shorts:

KIM Saebyuk (Actor), Nele WOHLATZ (Director), JIN Myunghyun (Chief Executive Officer of MOVment)

For the Korean Competition for Shorts, the three juries are invited. First, Kim Saebyuk is an actor working vigorously in various genres of films, such as Stateless Things (2012), A Midsummer’s Fantasia (2015), The Day After (2017) and House of Hummingbird (2019), as well as the Netflix series Queenmaker (2023). Especially with her impressive performance in House of Hummingbird, she won Best Supporting Actress for AKOFIC Awards 2019 and Baeksang Arts Awards 2020. Nele Wohlatz, born in Germany, and moved to Argentina, shows her works draws connections between language and film language at the border between documentary and fiction, and whose solo debut El futuro perfecto (2016) was awarded as the best first feature at the Locarno International Film Festival. Her new feature Sleep with Your Eyes Open premiered at the 74th Berlinale and received the FIPRESCI award in the Encounters section.

Jin Myunghyun, who has distributed, promoted, and marketed films such as The King of Jokgu (2013), Worst Woman (2016), Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), Lost to Shame (2016), and won the 2017 Women In Film Awards for Best PR and Marketing, is also named. He is an executive committee member of the Seoul Independent Film Festival, and a moderator for film festivals and releases, and is currently the director of an independent film studio, MOVement.

■ Three juries for the NETPAC Award:

Chalida UABUMRUNGJIT (Director of Thai Film Archive), JEON Byoungwon (Director of Future Cinema Institute), JUNG Hongsoo (Head of Kang Publishing Ltd., Critic)

For the NETPACT Award, Chalida Uabumrungjit, who is one of the founding members of Thai Short Film and Video Festival, which she has served as festival director since 1997, and is also one of the selection committees of Asian Network of Documentary Fund, is announced. She was one of the Executive Committee of International Federation of Film Archives, and she has been the director of the Film Archive, Thailand since 2019. Jeon Byoungwon, who wrote and directed the feature documentaries Self-portrait (2003), Just like you, Stand in the Piagol again (2009), and wrote the screenplays for the feature films Family Mart (2009), Elbowroom (2009), Mermaid Unlimited (2016), and the feature documentary Jiseok (2022) is also a jury for the NETPACT Award. He served as the executive committee member of the Jeonbuk Independent Film Festival and is currently the director of the Future Film Institute and a screenwriter. Finally, Jung Hongsoo, who has published series of critical reviews The Solitude in Novels (2008), A Glimpse of Blue While Shaking (2014), Love for Things That Will Go Away (2023), series of essays I Bet My Heart (2017), Looking at Each Other’s Backs (2023) is named. He is the recipient of The Daesan Literature Award and is currently the head of Kang Publishing Ltd.

Meanwhile, the 25th JEONJU IFF will be held from May 1 (Wed) to May 10 (Fri) at the Jeonju Film Street in and around Jeonju.