News

Considering that the Korean movie industry is facing intense problems, with the majority of titles of quality actually being shorts lately, the programmers of Bifan opted for the ideal solution. They picked a number of shorts for their program and invested heavily on Japanese movies, whose industry seem to be in a rather good place lately. The result was definitely a success, with a number of titles truly standing out (we will definitely include many in our Best Of lists). The tribute to Professor Manabu was another good idea in an all around very accomplished program. “Necrophilia”, “Mad Mask” and “New Group” were some of the titles that stood out, in a program, though, with many good moments.

1. Film Review: Suicide Notes Laid on the Table (2025) by Tsutomu Hanabusa

Ultimately, “Suicide Notes Laid on the Table” is best appreciated not as a realistic portrayal of student life or mental health,...

Director Kim Lok-kyoung’s third feature, “The Happy Ending for Sera”, is a genre-bending black comedy filled with meta elements, quirky humor, and playful gags. It is currently having its World Premiere at Bifan

The Happy Ending For Sera is screening at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival

The story begins with two men puzzled by the forensic sketching of a dead body, not on the ground, but on a wall. A man, later revealed to be a rooftop squatter, starts rambling about Paul Gascoigne the murderer before being chased by the two original men. Soon after, a woman approaches the chalk outline, at which point the screen shifts to color and the aspect ratio to 16:9. She is the titular Sera.

The setting changes again to a Korean barbecue restaurant, where Sera and a young man named Phil-joong are dining with a group. Among them is director Hur Joon-wook,...

On June 10, the official press conference of the 29th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival officially kicked off the 29th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (July 3~July 13).

Festival Director Shin Chul declared that Bifan has entered “AI Step 2” this year, following last year’s initial stage, and shared an ambitious goal to train 10,000 filmmakers over the next five years. Director Shin also referenced a famous remark by German filmmaker Werner Herzog, who once said, “Even after 4,500 years, computers will not make better films than I do.” He continued, “We trained an AI model using Herzog’s scripts, interviews, and other materials. The result was a screenplay titled “About a Hero”, which has been selected as this year’s Opening Film at Bifan.”

Jongsuk Thomas Nam (Programmer), Park Boram (Xr Curator), Chang Mihee (Organizing Chairperson), Shin Chul (Festival Director), Martin Lee, Jin Park, Kani Kim (Programmers)

The programmers took the stage to...

After bagging a passel of awards at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival two years ago with his rich and lively debut Festival, director Kim Lokkyoung returns to BiFan with his sophomore work, Jinju's Pearl. Jinju is a promising young filmmaker about to embark on a new production. Disaster strikes when the cute café she locked in for her shoot is demolished days before filming. Despondent, she reaches out to an industry colleague, who urges her to keep going and suggests she head to the town of Jinju, where his friend might be able to help her. In Jinju, she visits several interesting locations, but when she tries to find a café, her local guide has trouble finding...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Further winners included ‘Posthouse’ from the Philippines.

Brazilian director Renata Pinheiro’s fantasy horror Carrion has claimed the top Bucheon Award at the 15th Network of Asian Fantastic Films (Naff) project market, which runs parallel to the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) in South Korea.

The revenge thriller, based on a graphic novel by Brazilian writer and artist Shiko, follows a woman was kidnapped by a gang of outlaws and makes a pact with an otherworldly entity to seek vengeance.

Scoll down for full list of winners

The project, produced by Andre Pereira for Rio-based Lupa Filmes, received a cash prize of KRW20 million.