A total of 20 feature-length and 18 short films are being shown at Korean Cinema this year, which represents the largest number in history. Competition for the Korean Cinema category is fierce, since it involves both films that applied for screening out of competition as well as others that were not chosen in the Korean Competition category. What made the selection process especially difficult this year was the sheer volume—114 films out of competition, along with around 100 films that were not chosen for the Korean Competition category—together with quality so uniformly high as to defy comparison with past film festivals.

The area that stands out the most in this year's Korean Cinema is the documentary field. The seven documentaries here tell a wide variety of stories in different areas. With 2025 marking the 80th anniversary of Korea's postwar liberation, two of the films in the Korean Cinema section deal with Korea-Japan issues. Im Heung-soon's Memories Showers Seas is a documentary version of the director's exhibition of the same name, focusing on the figure of Kim Dongil and her clothing. A descendant of an anti-Japanese activist, Kim served herself as a liaison in the events of Jeju 4·3. In the late 1950s, she left for Japan, and she went on to acquire clothing of various colors and designs. In the context of Kim's story, the documentary cuts across the geographic distance between Japan and Korea and events in their history, including the massacres of Zainichi Koreans that took place in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Shiso is a documentary about Kim Rihyang, a Tokyo-born Zainichi Korean director who has been living in Korea for over seven years, and her family members back in Japan. It shares an intimate look at the identity of a Zainichi Korean who belongs to neither Korea nor Japan.

LGBTQ-themed documentaries that stood out in the Korean Competition and Korean Short Film Competition will also be showcased. Edhi Alice is a new work by Kim Ilrahn, who has been active with the LGBTQ culture and human rights group PINKS in the two decades since its 2004 establishment. The focus is on two figures—Edhi and Alice—who have chosen to transition from male to female life. We see Edhi expanding her female identity through changes to her anatomy and Alice creating a new identity for herself through her studies of dance. Tell Me That You Love Me by director Kim Jho Gwang-soo and It Has to Be a Secret by director Kim Dae-hwan, which will be discussed below, also deal with LGBTQ issues.

The documentaries in this year's Korean Cinema section represent a more diverse selection than in past years. The Birds Who Lived Home - Where Did You All Go? by director Kim Hwayong is an original project that reflects on the history of human interactions with poultry, raising questions in the process about our perceptions of animals and minorities today. This work is also based on an exhibition of the same name. Pink Moon by director Yun Han-seok tells the story of Yun Suknam, a preeminent Korean artist and pioneering presence in feminist art. This work explores the essence of Yun Suknam's art as it spotlights the difficulties encountered by the director as someone who transformed into an artist in her search for meaning in her life as the wife of the oldest son in a large family. The documentary Heart to Heart by director Seo Hansol focuses on the Heart Heart Orchestra, whose members are people with developmental disabilities. This work adopts a suitable distance as it tells the stories of orchestra members who embrace the challenge of becoming performers in spite of the difficulties associated with being developmentally disabled, as well as the family members supporting them in becoming part of society.

A striking number of Korean submissions this year were directed by actors, and three of these are featured in the Korean Cinema section. Rectangle, Triangle is the feature directing debut of Lee Heejun, an actor who has appeared in mainstream and independent films alike. Set at a reunion of family members who are not as close as they appear on the outside, this film shows the essence of “family” through scenes of loved ones with different philosophies sparring with one another. Also presented is Lee's short film Mad Rush, which was presented in the Korean Competition for Shorts at the 19th JEONJU International Film Festival. Sam-hee : The Adventure of 3 Joys is the feature directing debut of Moon Hyein, an actor who has made a name for herself in independent films like Inserts and The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra. Moon's film tells the story of Hyerim, an actor who experiences burnout after an accident during a film shoot. Leaving the chaos of Seoul for the “New Town” of Yangju in Gyeonggi Province, Hyerim experiences a quiet life that gains a new pulse when she learns about an apartment known as Samhee (“three joys”). At the 23rd JEONJU IFF, Moon Hyein won the directing award in the Korean Competition for Shorts with her work Transit. Also debuting in Jeonju is the short film Toe-Tapping Tunes, the directorial debut of actor Lee Jung-hyun, who was selected as J Special: Programmer of the Year. The story is about Sumi, a woman who has to raise money for the hospital costs for her dying mother even as she suffers from her own congenital condition. Sumi resolves to take everything on her shoulders in the hopes of helping her mother go on a flower viewing trip that is set to begin shortly—but things do not go according to plan.

New works by established directors are also drawing notice. Chung Yoonchul, whose previous films include Marathon and Warriors of the Dawn, presents SEA TIGER, a work examining the life of the late Kim Gwanhong, who worked as a diver at the time of the Sewol ferry sinking. Based on the book It Is a Lie by Kim Takhwan, the film shows the suffering experienced by civilian divers and the ways in which they were cast aside by the state. An interesting aspect of this work is the fact that much of it was filmed on an obvious set, much like the film Dogville by Lars von Trier. Another film that is arriving in Jeonju is Tell Me That You Love Me, a new work by the prolifically active director/producer Kim Jho Gwang-soo. This film draws on melodramatic sentiments as it shows the various meetings and partings that occur on different occasions between two men who came to know each other by chance through a used camera sale.

Some of the directors this year have been regular visitors to past editions of the JEONJU International Film Festival. Director Ko Bong-soo returns to Jeonju after two years with the Turkish-set story Güle Güle. The director's trademark humor and bittersweet sentiments shine through in a story about a character named Daesik who travels to Türkiye on business. While on a guided tour, he meets his past love Jeonghwa, who is visiting with her husband. Director Choi Changhwan presents a story about six people who end up spending the day at a layover hotel when their flight from Incheon to London is forced to make an unscheduled landing in Kitakyushu. Sharing a similar structure to the 23rd JEONJU IFF work The Layover, this film boasts a detailed sense of the dramas experienced by its characters. Another featured director, Kim Dae-hwan, has visited Jeonju multiple times while running the company Bomnae Films with fellow director Jang Woojin and won the Best Emerging Director prize at the 70th Locarno International Film Festival for The First Lap, a work selected for the JEONJU Cinema Project. Kim makes his return for the first time in eight years with HOMEWARD BOUND. Its story tells of Jeongha, a woman who has been living with her female partner Jiseon since losing her husband in an accident, and Jeongha's son Jinwoo, who returns to Korea from his studies in Canada. As everyone gathers in Chuncheon—including Jinwoo, his girlfriend Jenny, and Jenny's parents—the secrets they each harbor come to light. Director Shin Dong-min, who won the Korean Competition twice with Mom's Song at the 21st JEONJU IFF and From You at the 24th, presents the short film Dogs in the Sun. It boasts a simple structure as it examines the behavior of dogs abandoned during a heatwave, yet at the same time it reveals the director's contemplations of the relationship between animals and human beings.

As always, the Korean Cinema section shares films of a bold and experimental nature. Trials and Initiation is a new work by director Paik Jongkwan, who was previously invited to present work in the Korean Competition for Shorts at the 17th and 19th JEONJU IFF editions. Inside and outside the screen, it shows an actor structuring their story based on printouts rendered illegible by a computer error. I'd like that corner seat over there is by director Park Syeyoung, who received a special jury award in the Korean Competition for Shorts last year with the work Twilight. It is essentially a music video for the new album Hip Hop Retreat by Kim Oki, one of Korea's greatest saxophonists. The recordings on this album are presented against the backdrop of a single Chinese restaurant setting. The Bek Show End of Civilization is a work by director Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, who won the NETPAC Award at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival for A Dream of Iron, a work supported by the JEONJU Cinema Project. It adds some new footage to a video of the performance ‘The Bek Hyunjin Show: Public Broadcasting', which was presented in 2023 at the Sejong Center. Images of the avant-garde artist Bek Hyunjin are presented together with stories that might be true or false. This film was also the opening work at the 2024 Seoul Independent Film Festival.

Also worthy of attention are works by up-and-coming directors. Home Behind Bars, the debut feature of director Cha Jeong-yoon, delicately presents the drama that unfolds when a female prison guard happens to meet the middle school student daughter of one of the prisoners. This tale of quasi-family unfolds with a consistently desolate tone as it shares a story of female solidarity, which has been a key trend in Korean cinema this year. Hideaway is a work that conveys director Han Jisu's profound reflections on violence. The character of Seono is seemingly liberated while his abusive father dies while fighting a fire, but he finds himself in a quandary when his mother and sister insist that he forgive his father for his misdeeds. Seono also associates with delinquent friends, and their collision with migrant workers propels him into a fateful cycle of violence. CLEAR, a new work by Shim Hyeongjun, known for the documentary My Dearest Fu Bao, is a docu-fiction starring actor and singer Kim Pureum. Part 1 shows Kim meeting various activists on the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace vessel, while Part 2 tells the story of a plastic-eating alien who visits Earth to raise awareness of the importance of the environment. (Moon Seok)