The official press conference of the 18th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (JIMFF) was held today, July 14, 2022. The organizers gave more details about this year’s edition. With an impressive programme, the JIMFF will held the largest music film festival in Asia.

The 18th JIMFF which will be held from August 11 – 16, 2022 in the city of Jecheon, will screen 140 music films from 39 countries, reaching a new high record in the history of the festival. The press conference was held at the Haso Living Culture Center Walk in Jecheon. The event was hosted by Jang Sung-ran, a renowned journalist, Kim Chang-gyu, Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, Festival Director Cho Sungwoo, and Programmer Maeng Soojin.

Kim Chang-gyu expressed his determination to make this year’s festival a success, “At this press conference, we would like to introduce this year’s edition of the film festival and announce our commitment to a successful festival by working on every detail until the opening day. The festival will be well prepared for Jecheon citizens and music and film lovers who have supported our film festival for 18 years.” He added that went on to add to the audience’s anticipation for the film festival, “This year, the opening and closing ceremonies will be held in front of the Uirimji History Museum, a historic place where the citizens of Jecheon come to rest. We are proud to use Jecheon Airfield, which has been reopened to the public, as the official venue for the festival for the first time. The festival will make you forget the sultry heat with various music films and diversified programs that offer rare opportunities.”

Cho Sungwoo, Festival Director, continued the presentation on the changes and features of the 18th edition of the festival as follows, “Starting this year, JIMFF has set out to consolidate its position as both a film festival and a carnival of music film, and we are planning and developing new programs to become the largest music film festival not only in Asia but in the whole world.” This statement is in regarding to the JIMFF OST Market, a unique opportunity to discover and support the debut of talented new film musicians.

Maeng Soojin, the festival’s Programmer, announced that the opening film will be Sonata directed by Bartosz Blaschke (Poland). He also talked about the Official Competition, the newly introduced “Dynamics” section, the “All About Korean Music Film,” the long-term archival project for Korean music films; and the “Remembering the Artist Bang Jun-seok” section, where JIMFF will hold memorial screenings for the artist who passed away this year. He also pointed out that music director Cho Young-wuk was named Curator of the Year. Another special presentation will be the Concert that Justin Hurwitz, composer of La La Land will give during the JIMFF.

Festival Trailer
The organizers presented the 2022 festival trailer directed by Kim Byeong-seo, the director of Cold Eyes and Ashfall, and stars Lee Sun-kyun, widely known for his appearances in Parasite and My Mister. The music, which lightens the atmosphere with its beautiful melody, was composed by film composer Cho Yeonsoo, a graduate of the 15th Jecheon International Music & Film Academy (JIMFA). The trailer shows the festival’s strong will to recover from the pandemic period and return to everyday life.

Kim Byeong-seo comment about his work “The slogan of JIMFF ‘a tempo’ means ‘back to the original tempo.’ I made this trailer in that sense because I hope we can resume our daily lives that have come to a standstill. Slowly but surely, we will take one step at a time to return to our lives before the pandemic.”

Film Program Highlights
A 12-minute video was also presented with the program highlights.

Definitely the 18th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival is a festival not to miss. We will share more highlights of the programme in the days to come. We are very happy that AsianFilmFestivals is one of the official media partners of the festival so be sure to check our social media accounts for more updates.

To know more about this festival please visit: https://www.jimff.org/

Note: The top picture in this article and the thumbnail image shows (From left to right) Jang Sung-ran, Kim Chang-gyu, Cho Sungwoo, and Maeng Soojin (Photo courtesy of JIMFF)