Jeonju to open with Park Jinoh's Should've Kissed

South Korea’s 11th Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) has announced their full line-up, due to open with the world premiere of Park Jinoh’s debut feature Should’ve Kissed. A US-Korea co-production, the film tells a romantically fleeting story set in New York.

Coincidentally, Park’s older brother - award-winning director Park Jin-pyo, had his 2002 debut feature Too Young To Die screen at Jeonju as well as Cannes and other fests.

JIFF will close with Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio’s To The Sea, one winner of Rotterdam’s recent Tiger Awards.

With a focus on digital and independent films, the fest will run April 29 – May 7, featuring 209 films from 49 countries – the most in JIFF’s history.

With 131 features and 78 shorts, the fest has decreased the number of features by 15 and increased the shorts by 24 since last year by raising the bar on Korean submissions and prioritising premieres.

The line-up includes the world premieres of the previously announced Jeonju Digital Project 2010 omnibus composed of shorts by James Benning, Denis Cote, and Matias Pineiro; Lin Xin’s documentary Classmates, and several features in Korean competition including Kim Sung-ho’s She Came From.

Following its Filipino showcase from last year, JIFF will screen more films from the Philippines including Pepe Diokno’s Venice-awarded Clash in the International Competition as well as Raya Martin and Adolfo Alix Jr.’s homage to Filipino filmmakers Manila and the director’s cut of Lav Diaz’s Butterflies Have No Memories (from last year’s Jeonju Digital Project) in the Cinemascape section.

The fest also has a focus on the new wave in Argentinean cinema and retrospectives on Portugal’s Pedro Costa, Hungary’s Miklos Jancso and Korean documentary filmmaker Kim Dong-won, as well as special screenings themed “Poetics of Resistance & Revolution” including Eisenstein and Aleksandrov’s October and Glauber Rocha’s Cannes-awarded Antonio Das Mortes.

The fest will be rounded out with increased industry events and masterclasses by Bong Joon-ho and Pedro Costa.