Jeonju International Film Festival will take place next month behind closed doors, a month after its scheduled opening.

A scaled-down 21st edition of Jeonju IFF will run May 28-June 6, with only a limited number of judges and filmmakers from each competition section -- international competition, Korean competition and Korean shorts -- attending the event.

“As the upcoming long holiday period in May is raising the alarm for public health officials, Jeonju IFF had no choice but to think of the best way to ensure the safety of the public,” festival director Lee Joon-dong said in a statement Tuesday. Lee added that funding and support programs for filmmakers, such as the Jeonju Project Market, will continue as usual as it is the Jeonju IFF’s mission to discover and support promising filmmakers.

The organizers said that some of this year‘s titles may be shown online during the festival period, pending the permission of the directors and producers.

This is the first time that a film festival is being held without an audience in Korea.

Earlier last month, the film festival that was originally slated to kick off April 30 was postponed due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. 


By Choi Ji-won  (jwc@heraldcorp.com)