Beyond Asia and into Europe, past Africa to the Americas, Jeonju Digital Project has left its traces with world-renowned filmmakers across various continents. In 2013, Jeonju Digital Project decided to focus on Asia.

Jeonju Digital Project 2013: Strangers invited representative Asian filmmakers to Jeonju once again, after all-Asian projects in 2009 and 2012. Japan’s renowned independent filmmaker Kobayashi Masahiro, China’s cineaste Zhang Lu, who delved into ontological questions in his previous works, and Indonesia’s Edwin, the future of Asian cinema, have come together under the theme Strangers.

Kobayashi Masahiro has been active in the Japanese film scene since his feature debut Closing Time in 1996. In 2012, he served as a jury member for the International Competition at the Jeonju International Film Festival. His film Strangers When We Meet is a sequel to his 2007 work The Rebirth. Through a husband and wife who do not communicate verbally at all, the director paints a picture of two strangers bound together in the most intimate relationship. Interestingly, he used the silent film format in order to depict the strangers inherent in the characters.

Zhang Lu introduced his feature debut Tang Shi at the Jeonju International Film Festival and also served as a jury member for the Korean Feature Film Competition in 2009. His film Grain In Ear was screened at La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival as well. Having established himself as an auteur who has worked in Korea and China, ZHANG Lu presents strangers who live in Seoul through his first documentary Scenery. Observing the city and the people inside, he asks through the film, “Who isn’t a stranger here?”

Edwin, who came to Jeonju International Film Festival with short films in 2008 and 2011, became a promising filmmaker in Asian cinema when his second feature Postcards From The Zoo competed for the Golden Bear at Berlin International Film Festival 2012. In Someone’s Wife In The Boat Of Someone´s Husband, Edwin spins a tale of mystery against the backdrop of beautiful Indonesian landscape. The film tells the story of Marina, a stranger who visits the faraway island of Sawai in search of a legend and meets a stranger who coincidentally has the same name as the hero of the legend.
Using both fiction and documentary styles, Jeonju Digital Project 2013: Strangers stares into the faces of “strangers” and brings the sentiments and emotions of our time to the screen.