The 23rd The Jeonju International Film Festival opened with President Kim Seung-su announcing a new movie center to be built at the site of the Jeonju Dome, where the opening ceremony took place last night (April 28).
Stars and directors walked the red carpet to applause from an enthusiastic audience, as in the years before the pandemic, although many in masks wore it to the film festival, which always implies safety.
The Jeonju Dome is a temporary structure traditionally erected for the opening and closing ceremonies and other popular events during the annual film festival. Tickets for this year’s opening ceremony sold out in three minutes.
The guests on the red carpet were Justin H. Min, the protagonist of director’s opening film Kogonada After Yang; lead director Im Kwon-taek, here for the retrospective exhibition of Taehung Pictures. The artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival is Lily Hinstin, who participates in the jury of the Korean Competition. Miss granny starring Na Moon, here with Lee Soon-sung’s feature-length debut My perfect roommate, recently received by Finecut. and Brazilian actress Mari Oliveira, here with Anita Rocha Da Silveira’s international competition film Jellyfish.
“This will be the last Jeonju Dome because from next year we will start building a house for the Jeonju Cinema here – a movie haven, a kind of cinema center,” said Jeonju President and Mayor Kim.
“I wanted to keep the Jeonju Film Festival as a liberated area for free expression. Art and artists could be independent of political power, group capital, and social norms in Jeonju, even during the painful [years of] the blacklist, “he said, referring to former President Park Geun-hye’s citation and raising growing concerns that the forthcoming Conservative government could try to resurrect such actions.
“We have kept our original intentions for 23 years and we will keep them. “We love and respect all films and filmmakers,” he said, officially opening the festival, which runs until May 7.
Kim also made a posthumous contribution to the Korean Film Award to the recently deceased producer Lee Tae-won. The son of Lee Ji-seung – also a director whose producer titles include Social phobia and Haeundae – accepted on behalf of Lee.
Lee’s work is honored this year at Jeonju with the retrospective exhibition of Taehung Pictures of legendary Korean films, including Im Kwon-taek’s Chihwaseonwhich won the Cannes Film Award for Best Director in 2002, and Kim Yoo-jin’s love story drama in 1995 My dear Keumhong.
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