We are pleased to announce the Discovery Grant for a project and a film composer 

selected through the pitching session of the JIMFF Music & Film Market at the 21st Jecheon International Music & Film Festival.

Discovery Grant for a Project

Guess Who's Back

Director | Hong Uni

Discovery Grant for a Film Composer

Cho Eun

Jury's Comment on the Project​​

It has been an honor to be part of the jury for the newly launched Discovery Grant at this year¡¯s JIMFF Music & Film Market. Through this program, we had the refreshing and inspiring opportunity to meet five emerging film composers and five directors with new projects. The responsibility of selecting just one project and one composer was by no means light, and after listening to ten passionate pitches and engaging in Q&A sessions, we gained new insights and learnings. Because each team prepared with such dedication, reaching a final decision was truly difficult for us as jury members, and the deliberation time was accordingly long.

Among the five projects selected for pitching—one short film, two feature films in development, and two feature films already in post-production—each had distinct qualities and strengths. Aside from the basic fact that they were films, their conditions were so diverse that it was nearly impossible to compare them directly. Ultimately, the jury focused on what kind of film would most appropriately embody the keywords ¡°Jecheon International Music & Film Festival¡± and ¡°Discovery Grant.¡± After careful discussion, we selected Guess Who's Back as the awardee.

The project stood out with its highly engaging concept and script, making it a film that all jury members expressed a strong desire to see. We are also curious about how music will be creatively utilized in this work. We sincerely congratulate the winner and look forward to seeing the completed film screened at JIMFF in the near future.

Alongside Guess Who's Back, we also hold great anticipation for Gunju, Sing Sing Sing, Melancholy Zombie and Brunch, and A Girl Like Me, and we hope these projects will also be successfully completed and shared with audiences soon.

The five film composers who participated in this pitching session demonstrated outstanding talent, drawing on both remarkable musicality and diverse experience. As a result, it was not easy to determine the relative merits during the evaluation. The jury engaged in an extensive deliberation process, as all participants displayed strong potential for collaboration and artistic growth.

In particular, many composers showed promising potential for collaboration with directors and projects, raising expectations for their future contributions in the field of creation. Taking into account both the preliminary evaluations and the pitching presentations, the jury ultimately selected one composer whose unique musical voice stood out most clearly, while best reflecting the purpose of this program—to discover and support emerging talent.

We sincerely encourage and look forward to the continued challenges and growth of all participants.

JIMFF Music & Film Market Pitching Jury

E.oni, Kim Jongkwan, Kim Junseok, Lee Jisoo