Jean Gentil wins top award at Jeonju Film Festival

The 12th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) closed on the weekend with the top Woosuk Award going to Jean Gentil, directed by Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman.

The international competition jury led by Indonesian director Garin Nugroho said: “We were impressed by its expression in an understated, purely cinematic language of one man’s journey through a social cataclysm and by the intelligence with which it incorporated documentary qualities into a fictional construct.“

After a nine day run, the festival closed on Friday night (May 6) with the screening of the Korean feature film competition winner Anyang, Paradise City, directed by Park Chan-kyong, the younger brother of Park Chan-wook who also recently co-directed the iPhone film Night Fishing with him.

JIFF reported that out of 286 screenings, 179 screenings were sold out with 67,095 admissions. With the total number of sold seats at 77,590, the festival maintained an 86% seat occupancy rate, up 3% from last year.

Festival-goers commended the organizers for their decision to concentrate more resources on fewer films this year - 190 films from 38 countries, down from 208 films from 48 countries last year. The festival’s budget this year was KW3.2bn ($2.95m) up from KW3.1bn last year.

The 3rd Jeonju Project Market (JPM), held to invigorate the production and distribution of low-budget, independent and art films, had 294 participants from 125 companies at the Jeonju Project Pitch (JPP).

JIFF winners

International Competition:

- Woosuk Award (Grand Prize) – Jean Gentil (Dominican Republic/Mexico/Germany) dir. Israel Cardenas, Laura Amelia Guzman

- Jbbank Award (Special Jury Prize) – The Dream Of Eleuteria (Philippines), dir. Remton Siega Zuasola

- JIFF Audience Award – An Escalator In World Order (Korea), dir. Kim Kyung-man

Korean Feature Film Competition:

- JJ-Star Award (Grand Prize) – Anyang, Paradise City, dir. Park Chan-kyong

- JIFF Audience Award - The True-Taste Show (Korea), dir. Kim Jae-hwan

- Audience Critics’ Award – The Color Of Pain (Korea), dir. Lee Kang-hyun

- Movie Collage Award – Pong Ddol (Korea), dir. O Muel

- NETPAC-Eastar Jet Award - Single Man (China), dir. Hao Jie

JPM2011: JPP Winners, Producer Pitching:

- Production fund of KW7m ($6,476) – Testimony, dir. Yoo Jun-Seok, prod. Kim Moon-hwan

Documentary Pitching:

- Production fund of KW60m ($55,500) - Every Sour Sweet Day, dir. Hong Hyung-sook, Kang Seok-pil

- Production fund of KW20m ($18,500) - Here Comes Uncle Joe, dir. Choi Woo-young, Ha Sinae

- Production fund of KW5m ($4,600) - The Omnivore’s Dilemma, dir. Hwang Yun

Work in Progress:

- Production fund of KW10m ($9,250) – Pan, dir. Ben Rivers