The Korean Society for Visual Anthropology (KSVA) is excited to organize the 2023 Fifth Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival (KIEFF) to share with the larger audience many possibilities and meanings of ethnographic film. We are proud to announce the calls for ethnographic films for the "KIEFF Official Selection" and “KIEFF Student Filmmakers Selection”.
KIEFF understands that ethnographic film has evolved over the last 100 years by accepting various cultural perspectives and traditions of visual media. In the past, the definition of ethnographic film was limited to films produced by anthropologists. However, recently it is widely understood as films that present the understandings gained by the filmmakers who spent a considerable time living with the subjects of the films through diverse cinematic techniques. These new ethnographic films include not only the traditional anthropological films seeking to understand the other culture by exploring the meanings and values embedded in the lives of the others but also films made by indigenous people reflecting on the reality they themselves face, and experimental and other non-fictional films that invite us to think in a new way by representing the complex lives of contemporary people.
For a long time, ethnographic films offered an opportunity for the audience to realize what were considered universal and took for granted are in fact special results made by culture they are part of.
For the KIEFF Official Selection, we are looking for ethnographic films that explore the theme of “Urban-scape” in creative and innovative ways. The films should focus on the social, cultural, and environmental aspects of urban life and the impact of urbanization on people and communities. We encourage filmmakers to explore different perspectives and approaches in their films and to experiment with different forms of storytelling.
All films submitted to the "Official Selection" and “Student Filmmakers Selection” in the 2023 festival must have been completed in the two years prior to the festival or on the festival year itself. For this festival that would mean films completed between 2021 and 2023.
For the KIEFF Student Filmmakers Selection, films on any topic will be considered, but special consideration will be given to films that focus on anthropological topics. All festival films go through a highly selective screening process.
KIEFF is a non-competitive film festival, thus there are no awards or prizes offered.