The Seoul Independent Film Festival on Monday announced the full lineup of its annual screening tour “Indie Picnic,” hosted by the organization.

The lineup of 24 independent films that received awards or premiered at last year’s film fest includes five feature-length films and 19 short films.

“Evaporated,” by director Kim Sung-min, winner of last year’s award for best long feature, tells the story of the family of a young child who disappears without a trace. Two films from female directors, “Lucky Chan-sil” by Kim Cho-hee and “Moving On” by Yoon Dan-bi, which won the Audience Award and New Choice Award, respectively, are also part of the screening tour. Yoon also received the Bright Future Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam with “Moving On.” Other long features in the lineup include Park Suk-young’s “The Hill of Wind” and Han Tae-hee’s “Welcome to X-World.”

The short films are divided into five thematic sections, including women, secrets and emotions. Notable short films include Bae Kkot-narae’s “Dots,” which won for best short film, and grand prize-winning “Beginners’ Class,” by Kim Hyeon-jeong. 

Individual sessions of the screening tour -- which will take place throughout the year -- are hosted at the request of film organizations and local independent film theaters. Applications and inquiries can be made through the SIFF office at (02) 362-9513 or prog@siff.kr.

The Seoul screening, held in April each year to kick off the tour, has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The screening event was started in 2004 to help gain exposure for indie films that might find it difficult to get into multiplexes, and to boost their chances for international premieres. Some of the 300 screening sessions conducted so far have been held overseas, and past hosts have included the Consulate General of Korea in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2013 and the Korean Cultural Center in Madrid in 2018 and 2019.

The Seoul Independent Film Festival is held annually at the end of November.


By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)