22nd Jecheon International Music Film Festival opens with record 189 films from 51 countries

The 22nd Jecheon International Music Film Festival kicked off September 3 at Jecheon Arts Center Summer Plaza and runs through September 8 across six days and four venues: Jecheon Arts Center, Jecheon Culture Theater, Jecheon Image Media Center Bom, and Yeop Yeon Cho Salon.

The red carpet started at 6:10 PM. Festival ambassador An Jae-hong showed up alongside actors Kim Seol-hyun, Song Joong-ki, and Park So-dam, TWICE's Dahyun, and director Park Chan-wook. At 7:30 PM, broadcaster Jang Do-yeon hosted the opening ceremony—her second year doing it—with actor Moon Sang-min.

Record scale, new competition section

This year screens 189 films from 51 countries with performances by 37 teams. Organizers call it the festival's largest scale on record. The slogan is Fly Together. A new "International Competition" section opened alongside the existing International Music Film Competition, welcoming new works from any genre or subject.

Congo Boy, directed by Raphiki Fariala of the Central African Republic, opens the festival. It played in the "Un Certain Regard" section at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, where lead actor Bradley Fiomona Dembisette won Best Actor.

What's on through the 8th

The program includes One Summer Night with K-pop Season 2 and JIMFF Special Choice performances. There's a free citizen performance called One Summer Dream. The Talk to You talk program features director Bong Joon-ho, journalist Son Seok-hee, singer Kim Yun-a, profiler Kwon Il-yong, actor Jeon Mi-do, director Lee Myung-se, and actor Ryu Hyun-kyung.

Hidden Track and A Life in Film are audience participation programs. A special extended screening of Park Chan-wook's Eojjeol Suga Eobsda runs alongside an exhibition of unpublished on-set still photographs from Spring in Seoul, Snowpiercer, and Oldboy at Yeop Yeon Cho Salon.

Executive Director Jang Hang-jun said the team "focused on clarifying the festival's unique identity of film and music, while broadening points of contact with audiences through diverse genres and new programs."

Jecheon Mayor Lee Sang-cheon called it "meaningful to share the festival, prepared at the largest scale ever, with citizens, domestic and international filmmakers, and audiences."