Jeonju International Film Festival 2026

The Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF) runs for 10 days from late April into early May in the city of Jeonju, roughly 2 hours 30 minutes south of Seoul by KTX. Founded in 2000, it has developed a strong identity around independent and art-house cinema, distinguishing itself from the more commercially oriented Busan International Film Festival by consistently prioritising challenging, formally unconventional work. JIFF is particularly well regarded for its digital and low-budget film strand, which has supported directors who later became internationally recognised.

Programme and venues

JIFF screens around 200 films across multiple sections, including the International Competition, Korean Competition, Korean Short Film Competition, and a Jeonju Cinema Project strand that commissions original works specifically for the festival. Venues are concentrated in the Jeonju Digital Independence Cinema complex and several multiplex screens within easy walking distance. The overlap with Jeonju Hanok Village, a preserved neighbourhood of several hundred traditional Korean wooden houses, gives the festival a distinctive backdrop that few equivalents can match.

Outdoor screenings are held in Hanok Village itself on selected evenings, creating an unusual combination of contemporary independent cinema and 600-year-old Korean architecture. These free outdoor events tend to attract large local audiences alongside the festival crowd.

Getting tickets

Tickets are available through the official JIFF website at eng.jiff.or.kr. Individual screenings typically cost 8,000 to 10,000 KRW. Passes offering multiple screenings at a discount are available and worth considering if you plan to stay for more than two days. Popular premieres and closing night gala screenings fill early, so booking within the first few days of ticket release is advisable.

Getting to Jeonju

From Seoul, KTX trains run to Jeonju Station in approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. From the station, taxis reach the Hanok Village area in around 10 minutes. Local city buses also connect to the main festival venues.

Late April and early May in Jeonju are generally pleasant, with daytime temperatures between 15 and 22°C. The tail end of cherry blossom season sometimes overlaps with the festival’s opening days. For more on exploring Jeonju and the surrounding region, see our practical travel guide and food guide.