We present the winners of the Jeonju International Film Festival, which is taking place from May 1 – 10, 2024 in Jeonju, South Korea.

International Competition

Grand Prize

The Major Tones by Ingrid Pokropek – Argentina, Spain | 2023 – 102 minutes | Asian Premiere
It’s winter holidays, and fourteen-year-old Ana discovers that the metal plate she has in her arm from an accident she suffered as a child is now receiving a strange message in Morse code. (Jeonju 2024)

Best Picture Prize (Sponsored by NH Nonghyup)

Cu Li Never Cries by Pham Ngoc Lan – Vietnam, Singapore, France, Philippines, Norway | 2024 – 93 minutes | Asian Premiere

A woman tries to cling onto her past after inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband; meanwhile, her niece prepares for marriage as the young couple ponders their uncertain future together. The present and the complex echoes of Vietnamese history intertwine with a contemplative and poetic perspective. (Jeonju 2024)

Special Jury Prize

Junkyard Dog by Jean-Baptiste Durand – France | 2023 – 93 minutes | Aian Premiere

Dog and Mirales live in a small village and spend most of their days hanging out. That autumn, Dog is reunited with Elsa, with whom he is having a love affair. The distance between them allows them to grow up and find their place. (Jeonju 2024)

Korean Competition

Grand Prize (Sponsored by FUJIFILM ELECTRONIC IMAGING KOREA)

Time to Be Strong by Namkoong Sun – Korea | 2024 – 102 minutes | World Premiere

Three retired K-pop idols take a trip to Jeju Island. After failed careers and missed school trips, they finally have the time to go on a trip on their own. On their first day on the island, things start to go awry. (Jeonju 2024)

Best Actor Prize

NA Ae-jin for Silver Apricot (dir. Jang Man-min) – Korea | 2023 – 122 minutes | World Premiere

Jung-seo, an artist who draws vampire webtoons, heads to her father, Young-joo, who runs a restaurant in Mukho Port in Gangwon-do. She brings a saxophone that her mother, Mi-young, had kept as an IOU symbol. There, Jung-seo gets tangled up in her family members’ unfamiliar desires. As she confronts her roots and shaky presence, Jung-seo makes a choice for herself. (Jeonju 2024)

CHOI Seung-eun for Time to Be Strong (dir. Namkoong Sun) – Korea | 2024 – 102 minutes | World Premiere

Distribution Support Prize (Sponsored by JIWON)

Blanket Wearer by Park Jeongmi – Park Jeongmi – Korea | 2024 – 116 minutes | World Premiere

The protagonist sets out to find ways to survive without money. She lives in squats, feeds herself by skip-diving and works in organic farms. Leaving the UK, she hitchhikes across Europe. Travelling with hippies, she reconnects with nature and opens herself to go with the flow to find peace. She continues her journey toward the East and becomes closer to her true home. (Jeonju 2024)

CGV Award

Sister Yujeong by Chung Haeil – Korea | 2024 – 102 minutes | World Premiere

Yujeong, who works as a night shift nurse at a general hospital’s cardiology department, is now told that her 12th-grade younger sister, Kijeong, has been arrested by the police as a suspect in an infant abandonment case. Only then does Yujeong start to make desperate efforts to rescue her sister. (Jeonju 2024)

Watcha’s Pick

Time to Be Strong by Namkoong Sun – Korea | 2024 – 102 minutes | World Premiere

Special Mention

A Chronicle in Spirals by Kim Yiso – Korea | 2023 – 82 minutes | World Premiere

After falling for an apartment scam, Ungbi sleeps more in the mornings. The landlord evicts Eunbin’s theatre troupe. The demolition is scheduled for tomorrow. Two stories echo back to each other without fully sticking together. This film is an incomplete memory of the witness, a diary written on the traces of the past. (Jeonju 2024)

Korean Competition for Shorts

Grand Prize (Sponsored by FUJIFILM ELECTRONIC IMAGING KOREA)

Farewell by Gong Seonjeong – Korea | 2023 – 26 minutes | World Premiere

Yeong-ju lost a friend because of the ‘Seoul Halloween crowd crush’ in 2022. Unable to recover from the trauma, she took a leave of absence from college and volunteered to give career counselling to middle school students while undergoing psychiatric treatment. As time passed and both her treatment and volunteer work came to an end, the traumatic autumn came around again. (Jeonju 2024)

Best Director Prize (Sponsored by Kyobo Life Insurance)

Lim Jisun for Hansel: Two School Skirts – Korea | 2024 – 29 minutes | World Premiere

Shortly before the start of music class, where the teacher forces the students to sing as a punishment, Hansel, a high school student, realizes that she has forgotten to bring her recorder. For Hansel, the idea of singing in front of her classmates is worse than death, so she rushes home to get her recorder. (Jeonju 2024)

Special Jury Prize

Twilight by Park Syeyoung -Korea | 2024 – 18 minutes | World Premiere

A man and a dog walk to the tip of the mountain every evening. There is a light that shines at sunset. They are looking for it, but the sun has set, and the forest is deep. (Jeonju 2024)

Special Award

Documentary Award (Sponsored by Jin Motors)

VOICES by Jee Hyewon – Korea | 2024 – 88 minutes | World Premiere

In the turmoil of the Jeju 4.3 incident, Jeju Island witnessed the loss of an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 lives, with women constituting a significant yet often unrecognized proportion of the victims. This documentary illuminates the once-shrouded experiences of these women, led by a dedicated Jeju 4.3 researcher. (Jeonju 2024)

J Vision Award

Unspoken by Oh Jaewook – Korea | 2024 – 20 minutes | World Premiere

Sujin, the class president, accidentally hurts deaf classmate Juyeon. Sujin visits Juyeon at home with her friends to apologize, but Juyeon refuses to accept her apology and Sujin’s friends turn out to be of no help, either. (Jeonju 2024)

NETPAC Award

Punch Drunk by Adel Tabrizi – Iran | 2023 – 100 minutes | Korean Premiere

Mahtab lives in Tehran in 1996, along with her 10-year-old child, Erfan. She has got divorced from her husband, Morteza, who is in jail. Mahtab has enrolled her child in a karate class so that he does not end up like his father as far as his character is concerned. (Jeonju 2024)

Cineteca Nacional México Award

Deprivation by Kim Solhae, Lee Dojin – Korea | 2024 – 85 minutes | World Pemiere

Ji-yeon and Do-jin are exhausted from years of IVF treatment. They don’t remember what life was like before. She continues to experience the pain of separation from a child she has never met. Do-jin is worried about her health and wants her to quit, but she can’t. “Why can’t I be a mother?” She won’t give up. (Jeonju 2024)

For more information, please visit: https://eng.jeonjufest.kr