The 2nd Pyeongchang International Peace Film Festival announced on Monday eight films nominated for its International Feature Competition.

“A Distance Place” by Park Kun-young from Korea, “Dust and Ashes” by Park Hee-won from Korea, “Identifying Features” by Fernanda Valadez from Mexico, “Nafi’s Father” by Mamadou Dia from Senegal, “Negative Numbers” by Uta Beria from Georgia, “Tony Driver” by Ascanio Petrini from Italy, “Way Back Home” by Park Sun-joo from Korea and “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” by Massoud Bakhshi from Iran have been nominated for the award, which comes with prize money of 20 million won ($16,300). The eight films were chosen from 254 submissions.

All submissions dealt with the theme of peace, with films longer than 60 minutes considered for the International Feature Competition and shorter Korean films considered for the Korean Short Competition.

On April 8, PIPFF announced 18 nominations in the Korean Short Competition, which has a prize of 10 million won. A total of 538 entries were received in the category.

“The five international films and three Korean films reveal political and social absurdities from the perspective of the underprivileged, including sexual minorities, immigrants and women, which are playing out globally in the 21st century, ” said Choi Eun-young, programmer of PIPFF, in the announcement of the nominations for the festival‘s International Feature Competition.

The festival was launched in August 2019 in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, which has become a symbol of peace since the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The festival will run from June 18 to 23 under the slogan “Peace Again” at Alpensia Resort and Hoenggye area in Pyeongchang, featuring around 100 films from over 40 countries.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)