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The greatest bargain of this year’s European Union Film Festival, the Jeonju Digital Project program screening on Sunday and Wednesday showcases three important filmmakers for the price of one. The annual project, launched by the Jeonju International Film Festival in 2000, commissions prominent filmmakers to produce works on digital video. This may not seem as novel today as it did 11 years ago, as digital cinema has proliferated so widely that it threatens to take over film altogether (certain recent movies, like The Social Network and Hugo, have exploited this development brilliantly). But the directors featured in this program—Claire Denis, José Luis Guerín (In the City of Sylvia), and Jean-Marie Straub—use video to make something distinctly other than films. Part of the appeal of the program is seeing how these artists address the formal properties of digital and try to personalize them.
