Jecheon International Music and Film Festival (JIMFF) is Asia’s only international festival where audiences can experience both music and film during a single event. The six-day 2026 event features a broad selection of titles, including the Korean Premieres of Ali Asgari’s Divine Comedy, Sophie Heldman’s The Education of Jane Cumming, Abdellatif Kechiche’s Mektoub My Love: Canto Due, and Ira Sash’s Peter Hujar’s Day. Also featured are the Asian premieres of Fernando Eimbcke’s Flies and Mohamed Al-Daradji’s Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream, along with the World Premiere of Jeon Chanwoo’s Body and Mind.

The 22nd JIMFF, led by Executive Committee Chair Chang Hangjun, moves beyond films centered on music, showcasing cinematically accomplished features that offer fresh perspectives on the world. The selected films explore a range of contemporary issues, including freedom of expression and censorship, taboos and prejudice, war and loss, and the possibilities of new family structures.

First unveiled at the Venice International Film Festival, Ali Asgari’s Divine Comedy turns the realities of artistic freedom and censorship into a lively comedy of errors. Based on a true story that shook 19th-century Scotland, Sophie Heldman’s The Education of Jane Cumming sensitively portrays women confronting social taboos and prejudice. Heldman’s film was officially selected for the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

A Competition selection at the Berlin International Film Festival, Fernando Eimbcke’s Flies uses a minor disruption in a perfectly controlled life to explore new communities and alternative families beyond conventional family structures. First unveiled at the Locarno Film Festival, Mohamed Al-Daradji’s Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream draws on Iraqi mythology to portray the lives of children who endure loss in wartime yet hold fast to hope.

Abdellatif Kechiche made a lasting impression on Korean audiences with Blue Is the Warmest Color, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Kechiche attends JIMFF 2026 in person to introduce his new feature Mektoub My Love: Canto Due to Korean audiences in person. Since premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Ira Sachs’s Peter Hujar’s Day was eagerly awaited in Korea and is anchored by compelling performances from Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall.

Body and Mind, the only Korean film selected for International Competition, has its world premiere at JIMFF. Director Jeon Chanwoo brings a distinctive cinematic aesthetic to his in-depth exploration of loss, mourning, and the process of rebuilding oneself, delivering a deeply affecting work.

The biggest change in this year’s program is the new format for International Competition. The section was created to take JIMFF to the next level as an international film festival. Through the International Music Film Competition, JIMFF will maintain its identity as a music film festival while using International Competition to present new currents in world cinema. – JIMFF programmer Jin. Cho

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