The Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF), which will stage its 22nd edition this year from April 29 to May 8, has revealed the finalists of its Korean Competition section. Ten titles will be included in the lineup, among them eight narrative films and two documentaries.

The lineup features several works addressing social minorities, including the narrative feature Awoke from directors JUNG Jae-ik and SEO Tae-soo and the documentary Corydoras by RYU Hyung-seok, which both focus on people with disabilities. Meanwhile, BYUN Gyu-ri’s documentary Coming to you explores gender minorities and their relationships with their parents.

Different social issues come to the fore in a number of other works, including HONG Sung-eun’s Aloners, which casts its eye on loneliness, exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, while HUR Jung-jae’s First Child expounds on the difficulties of being a single mother. HWANG Jun-ha’s Influenza deals with hazing in the nursing community and KAM Jeong-won’s The Train Passed By chronicles the aftermath of an industrial accident.

This year’s competition features three works looking the rough and tumble lives of today’s youth: LEE Jung-gon’s Not Out, WOO Gyeng-hee’s Nineteen and Kim Min-young of the Report Card, from directors LEE Jae-eun, LIM Ji-sun

The competition lineup was whittled down from 108 feature entries. Programmer MOON Seok noted a decrease in submissions dealing with women’s issues, as well as very few films confronting the pandemic we find ourselves in.

JIFF also recently announced its four feature Jeonju Cinema Projects this year, which will include MIN Hwan-ki’s The Man with High Hopes, IM Heung-soon’s HUG, Ted FENDT’s Outside Noise and Éric BAUDELAIRE’s A Flower In the Mouth.