
About Us
About Us
KIEFF Staff
Kijung Lee | 이기중 (Festival President & Programmer)
Il-Dong Joe | 조일동 (Festival Director)
Chang-ho Lee | 이창호 (Festival Coordinator)
Christian Joon Park | 박준규 (International Coordinator)
Contact
Email: contact.kieff@gmail.com
Mobile: +82-10-9307-6270 (Christian Joon Park)

Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival (KIEFF) | 한국국제민족지영화제
Over the last 100 years ethnographic film has evolved 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 fiction films that invite us to think in a new way by representing the complex lives of contemporary people via unfamiliar screens. 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.
The Korean Society for Visual Anthropology (KSVA), founded in 2017 and incorporated as a Not-for-Profit organization in 2019, is excited to organize the Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival (KIEFF) to share with the larger audience many possibilities and meanings of ethnographic film. Once again, KIEFF will showcase films that reveal intimate and close aspects of lives which can only be filmed with a trust built over a long time living together to genuinely understand the people of other culture. KIEFF has carefully selected films that reveal small but magical events in everyday lives and are about difference of life taking place in different parts of the world, thus, inviting the audience to look back at their own lives.
In addition to the talks with filmmakers, there will also be special lectures by cultural anthropologists who have been continuously researching in the related fields to provide rich and deeper understanding of the films. Talks with filmmakers and special lectures will offer the participants to look further into wider cultural symbols and systems of meaning that were left out in the films or missed by the audience during the screening. Please join us for the Second Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival and don’t miss the opportunity to see various ethnographic films from traditional approach to new themes and trend and have conversations on the new possibilities of ethnographic film and new cinematic techniques.
Bringing the World of Ethnographic Films and Visual Anthropology to South Korea.
Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival (KIEFF) is organized by the Korean Society for Visual Anthropology, Inc. (Not-for Profit).
제4회 KIEFF 한국국제민족지영화제
Fourth KIEFF 2022
8-10 September (Tentative)
KIEFF 2022
학생부문 작품 공모
KIEFF 2022
Call for Films

The Korean Society for Visual Anthropology (KSVA) is excited to organize the 2022 Fourth 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 second KIEFF Student 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-fiction films that invite us to think in a new way by representing the complex lives of contemporary people via unfamiliar screens. 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.
KIEFF takes a flexible stance regarding what counts as an “ethnographic” film, including not just works made by anthropologists but also films made by professional filmmakers who display an ethnographic sensibility in their work. That means films which are made in an ethical manner without sensationalizing their subjects. Films that are the product of a long-term close collaboration between filmmaker and subject are especially welcome. While we occasionally do accept fiction films, experimental art films, biographies, sports documentaries, and films about musicians, such films will only be considered if they are accompanied by a convincing statement regarding their suitability for the festival.
All films submitted to the Student Selection in KIEFF 2022 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 2020 and 2022. 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. As such, festival does not have a competition or offer prizes or awards.
KSVA
Welcome to the Korean Society for Visual Anthropology homepage. (Under Construction!) read more.
Program
The detail information of the program for the KIEFF 2021 is posted in the Program Section. read more.
Photos
Photos of the event will be posted regularly. If you would like to share your photos of KIEFF events, please send them to us. read more.
Archive
Programs and information of the past festivals are archived here. (Under Construction!) read more.
Phone: +82 10-9307-6270 Email: contact.ksva@gmail.com
55 Bulgwang-ro, #601 Eunpyeong-gu Seoul, South Korea [03358]
