8 Documentaries you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on April 18, 2022 • ( 3 Comments )

These are eight documentaries you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival, which will take place from April 28 until May 7, 2022.

For this festival we also selected 24 films (Part 1 – Part 2), and 15 Short Films (HERE) you shouldn’t miss

– Selected Docs –

**All About My Sister** by Wang Qiong – USA | 2021 – 174 minutes
**Section**: Frontline | Asian Premiere

Li’s younger sister, Jin, survived their parents’ induced abortion and abandonment because they were wishing for a boy when the one-child policy was in place. Today, Jin struggles to accept her parents. The elder sister, Li, is now pregnant and wonders if the baby is a boy her husband wants or a girl she might need to abort. (JIFF 2022)

Trailer:

**Chosen** by Joseph Juhn – USA, Korea | 2022 – 88 minutes
**Section**: Korean Cinema | World Premiere

In November 2020, the Senate and House of Representative elections took place along with the Presidential election in the United States. Five Korean Americans of vastly diverse backgrounds with competing political views ran for the House election. David Kim is the only underdog with limited resources vying to be the first Korean American representative from Koreatown in Los Angeles. (JIFF 2022)

**Girl who dreams about time** by Park Hyuckjee – Korea | 2022 – 111 minutes
**Section**: JEONJU Cinema Project | World Premiere

Sujin and her grandmother are shamans living in the mountains. It’s their important daily routine to offer purified water to gods and tell the fortune for troubled hearts. During high school, Sujin works hard to go to college to escape her fate, but the excitement of busy college life deepens conflict with her grandmother. Eventually, Sujin accepts her fate and becomes a full-time shaman. (JIFF 2022)

Trailer:

H6 by Ye Ye – France, China | 2021 – 114 minutes
**Section**: Frontline | Asian Premiere

The Sixth People’s Hospital is one of the biggest in Shanghai. Its corridors are filled with medical staff, patients and families whose lives have been turned upside-down. A series of interconnecting stories paint a picture of China as it is today, where hypermodernism meets cultural tradition. (JIFF 2022)

Trailer:

**Saving a Dragonfly** by Hong Daye – Korea | 2022 – 80 minutes
**Section**: Korean Competition | World Premiere

In my high school senior year, I began filming me and my friends as we studied hard to get into a good university. As time goes by, I become a university student, but still feel the same anxiety I felt like a high school student. One day, I get a call from my high school friend saying she is not doing well. I try to help her, but it doesn’t go well. I decide to write a letter to her. (JIFF 2022)

**The Memory of You** by Sim Mihee – Korea | 2022 – 79 minutes
**Section**: Korean Cinema | World Premiere

One day, the wife has changed. She becomes more forgetful, gets herself lost on the streets, and finds it hard to recognize people she meets every day. She used to cook full meals for many guests but now struggles to even make fried eggs. Like so, her time goes backward. (JIFF 2022)

Trailer:

**The Teachers: pink, nature trail, ridge between rice paddies, plum** by Park Hong-yeol, Hwang Da-eun – Korea | 2022 – 93 minutes – **Section**: Korean Cinema | World Premiere

We no longer see children running around playing in the alleys of Seoul. Starting from elementary school, children go to private classes after their school. However, we see these people who are making efforts to protect children’s right to be a child and play like a child. (JIFF 2022)

Trailer:

**Tokyo Kurds** by Hyuga Fumiari – Japan | 2021 – 105 minutes
**Section**: International Competition | International Premiere

Since the 1990s, Turkish-Kurdish refugees have arrived in Japan and settled in a suburb of Tokyo. Today, the number of their community is about 2,000 and after all these years, they still are illegal immigrants. Here live Ozan (18), Ramazan (19) and Mehmet (38). (JIFF 2022)

Trailer:

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

About the festival:
Launched in 2000, Jeonju IFF is now recognized as Mecca of independent film festival of Asia and the widest window of avant-garde cinema around the world. While you can find latest waves of Korean independent scene in Korean Film Competition, International Competition introduces new talents across the world and showing the potential of new cinematic aesthetics. A number of new, rising filmmakers have been introduced to the world stage by Jeonju IFF and it resulted in that the awardees of Jeonju IFF have been critically acclaimed by international film festivals scene. The directors with the Grand Prize include Suwa Nobuhiro, Apichatpong Weerasrtakul, LiuJia-yin , Denis Cote, YING Liang, Matías Piñeiro and Sherad Anthony Sanchez.