SEOUL — Eleven feature films by Korean directors including Yim Sun-rye and Kim Eung-su have been chosen to compete at this year’s Jeonju International Film Festival, which runs April 30-May 8.
Yim, director of “Forever the Moment,” about South Korean national women’s handball team, will compete in the section with her new effort “Fly Penguin.”
The film, featuring award-winning actress Moon So-ri (“Oasis”), delves into the lives of contemporary Koreans who suffer from various prejudices in an increasingly competitive society.
Other features in the section include Kim Eung-su’s “The Origin of Water,” about a man who takes on a journey to find the scenery from the painting left by his mother; Sim Sang-ok’s “Where is Ronny,” a comedy about a Taekwondo master who wants to restore his pride after losing a match to a foreign amateur; and “Bandhobi” by Shin Dong-il, about a romance between a Bangladeshi man and a Korean high school girl.
Jeonju is noted for bringing young independent filmmakers into the mainstream. Ryu Seung-wan’s debut feature “Die Bad” and Noh Young-seok’s “Daytime Drinking” have been discovered through the festival.
Jeonju’s feature competition section, previously named “Korean Cinema on the Move,” introduces a lineup of art house Korean films and documentaries. The audiences and jury members will each select the JJ-Star Award and Audience Critics’ Award, respectively, at the end of the festival.
Separately, Zhang Lu, the Korean-Chinese director of “Grain in Ear”; Despina Mouzaki, the Greek director of Thessaloniki Film Festival; and Giovanna Fulvi, the Asian cinema programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, have been named as final jury members for the Korean feature section.
