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The feature film Land of Strangers has advanced to the Korean Film finals at the 19th Jeonju International Film Festival, which will be held from May 5 to 13, 2018. The movie was directed by Oh Won-jae, a filmmaking student at Dongseo University’s Im Kwon Taek College of Film and Media Arts. Land of Strangers is one of 10 films to advance to the Korean Film finals, out of 89 entries in this category. The Korean Film section features Korean-made films with a screening time of 40 minutes or more.

Land of Strangers tells the story of Jeong Cheol, who has been in prison for 15 years after the murder of Na Seong, a family friend. Although Jeong Cheol was innocent, he confessed to having murdered Na Seong in order to protect his family. Now Jeong Cheol, who has been a model prisoner for 15 years, is released so he can attend his mother’s funeral. He returns to find his home town greatly changed after a nuclear accident and he must make another dangerous decision to help his family move out of the stricken area.

“It was possible to create a great film with the university’s budget and equipment, and we had a good environment to produce it,” said DSU filmmaking professor Son Hyun-seok. “Oh Won-jae is a promising filmmaker who has directed several short films, such as Hunting.”

“The quality of the films that have been exhibited in the competition this year has been higher than last year,” said Kim Young-jin, the festival’s executive programmer, adding that “there are many works that reveal the depression and anger of the young generation."