Seoul youth festival to screen 124 films from 33 countries

(ATTN: CLARIFIES number of films to be screened; UPDATES with organizers' comments,
details throughout)
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- Aiming to expand exchanges among talented youths, the
Seoul Youth International Film Festival (SIYFF) will open in the South Korean
capital next month, featuring 124 films from 33 countries, the event's organizers
said Tuesday.
The annual festival will run from July 9-15 at three major theaters in central
Seoul.
This year's event will span various genres including drama, thriller and horror,
and some selected short films dealing with sexuality, Sohn So-young, the event's
programmer, said in a press conference.
"While teenagers are sexually very vulnerable and are highly curious, the society
has been neglecting the issue for a long time," she said
Opening with "I Know You Know," a Berlin film fest-invited feature film by Justin
Kerrigan, a total of 36 films will compete at the festival. The non-competition
section will be split into nine categories, screening Korean teenager films from
the 1970s and past creations of Japan's Nobuhiko Obayashi.
Up to 914 films from 56 countries were submitted for participation this year.
Established in 1999, the SIYFF is the largest youth film festival in Korea and
provides a venue for young people to share their culture via film and media
education.
The festival has drawn increasing attention from home and abroad in recent years,
introducing not only youth-made films but adult-made movies delving into
youth-related issues such as family and inner maturity.
The festival selects two Grand Prize winners and two Jury Prize winners.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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