The festival
The Jeonju International Film Festival, launched in 2000, is one of South Korea's major film events, held each spring in the city of Jeonju. It built its reputation around independent, experimental, and art-house cinema rather than mainstream commercial releases. Alongside international programming, it gives significant space to emerging Asian directors.
Worth knowing
JIFF is well known for its 'Jeonju Cinema Project,' through which the festival helps produce and fund a slate of feature films each year. The event typically runs for about ten days across late April and early May.
How to attend
The festival is open to the general public, with tickets sold online and at festival venues clustered around Jeonju's Gaeksa cinema street. Popular titles can sell out quickly.
Awards & submissions
Jeonju’s International Competition is reserved for directors’ first or second feature films — fiction, documentary, experimental or animation — and awards a Grand Prize carrying a cash prize and trophy to a film that widens the scope of contemporary cinema. The festival is also known for the Jeonju Cinema Project, through which it helps fund and produce a slate of feature films each year. Built around independent, experimental and art-house work, it gives significant space to emerging Asian directors and typically runs about ten days across late April and early May, with venues clustered around Jeonju’s Gaeksa cinema street. Filmmakers submit through FilmFreeway, with an entry fee and eligibility rules published in the annual call; the public buys tickets online and at festival venues, where popular titles can sell out quickly.
Official site →Dates and programs change year to year — check the official site for the current edition.