Last Year's Best Independent Film: 'Joohee from 5 to 7'

The Best Independent Film Award Goes to 'Academy-ui Chingudeul'

The Korean Independent Film Association announced on the 3rd that the best independent film of last year was "Juhee from 5 to 7," directed by Jang Geon-jae.

It is a drama that reflects on the hidden aspects of life at the final stage of one's journey. It straightforwardly depicts the events experienced by Juhee (Kim Ju-ryeong), a middle-aged professor who received abnormal findings during a health checkup, between 5 and 7 p.m. It is an homage to "Cl?o from 5 to 7," directed by Agn?s Varda, a French director from Belgium. The perspective is expanded by changing Cl?o, a young actress in her 20s, into a middle-aged woman in her 40s who has quit acting. Instead of simply listing the narrative, it places pieces that can be inferred throughout, stimulating the imagination. The association commented, "It is a work that expresses the director's deep affection for actors and the world of acting through the film's form and production method."

The best independent film award was given to the civic coalition "Friends of the Academy," which opposed the demolition of the Academy Theater located in Wonju, Gangwon Province. The association explained, "They quietly struggled in the most difficult and harsh place to sustain the film community," adding, "Thanks to them, we were able to reconsider the meaning of 'theater,' which exists by connecting individuals and society, culture and history."