The 24th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Festival Director: SHIN Chul, hereafter BIFAN) has announced the 30 official selections from 21 countries for this year's NAFF project market. The selections consist of 19 projects for the It Project (including one Korean-Vietnamese co-production) and 11 projects for Project Spotlight Korea. A total of 181 projects from 40 countries were submitted for consideration this year. Selected projects are listed in the table below.
Projects from South Korea and other parts of Asia captured the philosophy that lies deep within the framework of genre films by exploring a variety of topics, such as tradition and political/social conflict, gender identity, and class distinction. (Project Spotlight highlights projects from one Asian country each year; this year's spotlight will be on South Korea.)
The judges for this year included Kini S. Kim (Asian Acquisitions Representative, The Jokers Films), Kim Young (producer, MIRU Pictures), Jonathan Kim (CEO of Hanmac Culture Group), and Joyce Heeyoung Cho (professor, Busan Asian Film School).
The 30 official selections will be candidates for the NAFF awards, which present the winning projects with cash awards and production support. Two other award categories are being added this year – the Asian Discovery Award and the Korean Discovery Award – to bring about a renaissance of genre film and to discover/support talented filmmakers; a cash prize of 15 million won will be awarded to the winners of the two categories. In addition, the NAFF Korean Award, which aims to promote the development of Korean genre films, has also expanded.
This year, a total of 30 million won will be rewarded to three outstanding film projects. The NAFF project market's Bucheon Award (grand prize) and NAFF Award (runner-up prize), which have also increased in value, will be awarding a total of 35 million won to two projects. NAFF (Network of Asian Fantastic Films) was established to boost the production and development of genre films in Asia, and is currently in its 13th year.
The 24th BIFAN will be held this year from July 9-16. Films will be screened in theaters in Bucheon, and will also be made available on online platforms.
It Project Selections
A Burning Worm (Hong Kong, Taiwan) by Wong Fei-Pang
Cremation (Vietnam, Malaysia) by Manton ShanhuanTH, Jacen Tan
Escape to Oz (Australia, China) by Sam Voutas
In My Mother's Skin (The Philippines) by Kenneth Dagatan
Journey Beyond the Night (Japan) by Takayuki Kayano
L.E.S. Dojo & The Curse of Muramasa (USA, Japan) ny Justin Ambrosino
Marry My Dead Body (Taiwan) by Cheng Wei-Hao JIN Pai-Lunn
The River Always Flows (Singapore) by Goh Ming Siu, Scott C. Hillyard
Suli (China, Taiwan, Hungary) by Lin Tu
Ten Secrets of Muoi (Vietnam, Korea) by Giang Le Binh
Under A Blood Red Sky (Indonesia) by Adriyanto Dewo
Variance (Malaysia) by Nir Paniry
Zsazsa Zaturnnah Vs. The Amazonistas Of Planet X (The Philippines, France) by Avid Liongoren
Project Spotlight: Korea Selections
About Subin by Song Hyunseok
The Fear of Seoul by Kim Hyunjin
The Ghost by Lim Kyungho
Historical Verification by Lee Minseob
The Housemaid by Choi Eun
Seire by Park Kang
The Vampyre: A New Life by Jang Kunjae
Vengeance is Ours by Jenny Kim
White Blue Moon by Yoon Jaeyeon
For more info about the Programme and the tickets, you can go to the Official Website
