International Music Film Competition
Best Music Film Award
The Loneliest Man in Town (Tizza COVI and Rainer FRIMMEL)

Best Music Film Award
Best Film Award
Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream (Mohamed AL-DARADJI)

Music InSight
Grand Prize
KIM Junseok (HI-FIVE)

New Talent
New talent SHOWBOX Award
CHO Eun (Water Deer)

The Jury Special Mention
CHOI Sori (After Submersion)



International Music Film Competition
The seven films in the International Music Film Competition are all impressive in different ways and the jury appreciated the opportunity to watch and talk about them during the festival. The music in these films came from different roots, traditions, and social contexts, and it’s interesting for us to see the ways filmmakers incorporate the idea and texture of different musical genres into the narrative of their films. The juries didn’t simply evaluate these films. We actually learned from them, and especially from the filmmakers who take us deep into the sound world they’ve created.

It’s not an easy task having to award just one film. We’re impressed by almost every film in the programme. We discussed at length about the soulful country music in Stages. We enjoyed learning about Norwegian Black Metal from Hex. We were hooked by the mock-realism of The Moment, and we like the use of the operatic tradition to talk about contemporary sensibilities in Crescendo.We deeply felt the raw, uncensored energy of Funk, and we learned a few things about rural China from Unbound Voices. The music in all the films is not just sound; it is an expression of the society it came from.

But since we have to award just one film, the jury decided to give the prize to a melancholic, warm-hearted, minimalist film that talks about dreams, hopes, modernity, and the belief of one man to cling on to the world that's inevitably disappearing. The Loneliest Man in Town is also darkly funny, and yet in the end sincere and honest. The use of blues music in an European film adds a surprising layer that gives depth to the character and the city he lives in. It looks like a small film set in a contained world, but in fact, we think it’s a large film that talks about life in a sweet and unexpected way.

International Film Competition
Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream is distinguished by its sincere narrative and steady progression, portraying social issues—including internal division, protests, the horrors of war and death—from the perspective of children. Filmed amidst actual street protests and chaotic urban scenes in Iraq, the film also enhances its sense of realism and authenticity by casting non-professional child actors who were themselves orphans.

By contemplating life in the closest proximity to death, and asking what must be preserved until the very end in order to maintain our humanity, this film challenges us to examine the perspectives and values we must hold today. 

Music Insight
The jury wanted to award a film driven by beats and rhythm, whose use of music and songs punctuates the construction of an imaginary world, and highlights the special qualities of each character, offering a counterpoint to narration.

Seamlessly matching the movements of the characters, the editing is guided by the tempo of the music which brings out the film’s unique tone that is lively and endorphin-inducing.  For offering us the best Rickroll moment of the festival, we are delighted to present the Grand Prize of the Music InSight Competition to KIM Junseok for HI-FIVE by KANG Hyoungchul.

New Talent
The films selected for this year’s New Talent section feature a diverse range of subjects and genres, with each film offering its own distinctive answer to the question of why music is necessary in film and where it belongs within the work. Rather than focusing on how prominent the music was, the jury examined how precisely each film’s chosen approach functioned within the flow of the film and how convincingly it held together through to the end. Based on these considerations, the jury selected one winning film and one Jury Special Mention. Regardless of the results, each film in the competition demonstrated memorable musical choices. We look forward to seeing these film music directors and their work again in the future.

[Jury Special Mention]
The New Talent jury has selected a Jury Special Mention to encourage and support emerging film music directors. Among the sixteen films in competition, this film particularly resonated with the spirit of the Jecheon International Music & Film Festival. We highly valued the way music functions not merely as background or as an embellishment of emotion, but as an integral part of the drama itself, helping to shape both the narrative and the thematic development of the film.
While the jury ultimately selected the winning film after considering the differences in scale and complexity between scoring a short film and a feature film, the musical creativity and freshness demonstrated by this work were clearly worthy of recognition, particularly in the way it drew on existing rhythmic patterns and musical materials. We particularly commend the achievement of naturally incorporating the language of traditional music into the film and closely integrating it with the narrative, and have therefore chosen to recognize it with a Jury Special Mention.

[Newtalent SHOWBOX Award]
n this film, the music delicately adjusts the emotional tone from moment to moment as the director neither conceals nor idealizes the hardships the character has endured, but instead allows us to see her as a whole person, guiding the audience away from making hasty judgments.

We were especially impressed by the choice and courage to hold back the music, even in moments when it might seem necessary. This was possible because the director’s vision and the musical choices worked closely together, and the music director handled that balance with great skill.

Rather than placing novelty or technique at the forefront, the music stays closely attuned to the story and the character from beginning to end, consistently conveying the film’s central themes. The jury highly valued the musical accomplishment and the level of difficulty involved in maintaining the balance between character and emotion throughout a feature-length film.