Jeonju International Film Festival

Mar believes in the mysterious legend of the lovers Halimah and Sukab on the island of Sawai from a hundred years ago. She travels to Sawai to experience what Halimah once felt, hoping to find Sukab there.

The story is set in a remote spot in the Philippines. The economic crisis has taken over and a group of men doesn’t do much apart from drink. Until an enchanting Canadian woman arrives.

The awkward, distant, and wounded three sisters gather at their hometown for their father's birthday. However, on the day of the party, there is a big mess because of their little brother Jin-seob's abnormal behavior, and the past of the three sisters slowly reveals.

Previously focused on Asian directors, “Jeonju Digital Project 2007” takes a look at Europe. The Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa, the German filmmaker Harun Farocki, and the French filmmaker Eugène Green participated in this project.

A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he's there, or why he's bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally 'zones out' of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.

After a chance meeting, a man and a woman stroll through Seoul’s changing streets.

A sheep farmer whose remote and quiet life is disturbed by the arrival of both his lover and his twin sister.

Chang-seok's marriage failed and he is about to publish a novel based on his own experience. After he meets various people, Chang-seok changes his mind and starts weaving yet another story.

In South Korea, 2002, the Democratic Party put the presidential nomination to a plebiscite for the first time. Amongst numerous candidates, the one who brought about the most unexpected result was a fringe candidate named Roh Moo-hyun.

Trapped in routine, a Jeju poet finds himself drawn to a boy—and to emotions he’s never dared name.

Coincidence brings Gyohwan, a ´keyboard warrior´ who has left home and is moving from gosiwon to gosiwon, and Jeongsu, a ´patriotic senior citizen´ who has fought all his life against the left wing, together who become close like a grandfather and grandson. A black comedy about the two who each prepare for their last big event which leads to disaster.

Based on a short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this short film tells the story of a man who falls in love with a woman he sees at the check-in counter of an airport, and later sits near her inside the plane bound for Canada. The two passengers never exchange a word.

A middle-age couple visit a temple in Chuncheon where they spent their first night together 30 years prior. On the way, one of them cannot find their phone and hurries to find it. As the night unravels, they will come across an ex-lover, a friend, and a young couple who resemble them 30 years ago.

High school student Min-sik moves to a rural village with his family. There he meets Ye-joo, a classmate who became a social outcast after her father was accused of murder.

Hong Sang-Soo’s Lost in the Mountains (South Korea, 32min) the visitor is the supremely self-centred Mi-Sook, who drives to Jeonju on impulse to see her classmate Jin-Young – only to discover that her friend is having an affair with their married professor, who Mi-Sook once dated herself. The level of social embarrassment goes off the scale. In Naomi Kawase’s Koma (Japan, 34min), Kang Jun-Il travels to a village in rural Japan to honour his grandfather’s dying wish by returning a Buddhist scroll to its ancestral home. Amid ancient superstitions, a new relationship forms. And in Lav Diaz’ Butterflies Have No Memories (Philippines, 42min) ‘homecoming queen’ Carol returns to the economically depressed former mining town she came from – and becomes the target of an absurd kidnapping plot hatched by resentful locals. Serving as his own writer, cameraman and editor, Diaz casts the film entirely from members of his crew and delivers a well-seasoned mix of social realism and fantasy. —bfi

Gi-tae, who continuously failed on his exam, returns to his hometown for the first time in ten years. He tried all different manual labors, but his debt-ridden life never seems to end. Soon Later, he starts working at a worn-out theater and meets Oh, the sign painter. Oh is never sober and always blunt, accordingly difficult to figure out. But Gi-tae doesn’t feel awkward around him.

EXIT: Woo-hyun lives a small-time criminal life earning his life as a pick-pocket. He often pays attention to an arrow-shaped-tattoo of his girlfriend which is on the genital area. He calls it ‘the emergency exit.’ THE BODY: Jung-su and Young-sun are a young couple. One new year’s eve, a movie director visits the couple’s house. Only the strong wind of the sea and slow time cross the living room and three people sense something…alive. WALTZING ON THUNDER: Mi-jung just happens to meet a group of people who have survived from being struck by lightning. While becoming aware of her old wound, she takes part in a trip for lightning strikes ‘again’.

Jeong-Woo is sent to a sanitarium deep in the mountains to overcome his alcoholism. There he meets a young nun named Maria who has a special ability to see inside people. In this isolated sanitarium Maria is the only person who seems to care for him and soon he feels drawn to her. While struggling with his withdrawal symptoms, Jeong-woo has a vision where his reality is different from what he believes. The further he escapes from his alcoholism, the closer he gets to confronting the past that he has denied for years.

Low-ranking civil servant Pil Yong (Park Joong Hoon) has things hard looking after his disabled wife(Ye Ji Won). He takes charge of a hanji project in hopes it will bring him a promotion. His wife comes from a family of hanji masters. One of his tasks include working with quarrelsome filmmaker Ji Won (Kang Su Yeon), who is shooting a documentary about hanji. Though he knows little about the subject to begin with, the more he learns about hanji, the more it takes on a new significance for him and the world around him.

Munseong goes to Gunsan for the first time in 30 years upon hearing his father Gwangdeok is dying. Gwangdeok’s death brings Munseong and his son Dojin together, but they are unable to reconcile. Painful history repeats in father-son relationship.