On May 24, the 25th Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN, Festival Director: SHIN Chul) announced the 40 official selections from 29 countries for this year’s NAFF project market. The selections consist of 19 projects for It Project, 11 projects for Project Spotlight: Korea, 6 projects for Work in Progress, 2 projects for Nordic Genre Invasion, 1 project for Blood Window, and 1 project for Fantastic 7. Selected projects are listed in the table below.
A total of 202 projects from 40 countries were submitted for consideration for this year’s NAFF project market. This represents a year-on-year increase of 8 countries and 21 projects. The judges for this year included KIM Donghyeon (director, Merry Christmas), KIM Huiyeon (producer, Bound Entertainment), Ellen Y.D. KIM (chief programmer, BIFAN), MO Eunyoung (programmer, BIFAN), and EOM Yonghun (secretary-general, BIFAN). “There were many new and original projects, each captivating in their own way, that were about personal inner conflict, social irregularities, or were complex projects that merged several genres at once,” explained judge KIM Huiyeon. “I’m looking forward to everyone overcoming these difficult pandemic times, and watching these projects together, in their completed form, at BIFAN.”
This year, NAFF accepted submissions of series projects for the first time in its history. In order to keep pace with the rapidly changing digital media environment and the impact that the rise of OTT services has had on the production, distribution, and consumption of video content, series projects were screened, and Goliath from the Philippines was selected. The Work in Progress program was launched last year, with the support of the Seoul Business Agency. The program offers practical support to the Korean film industry, which is struggling due to COVID-19. The Work in Progress program, which offers post-production support (DI, sound mixing, DCP) to projects, selected a total of 6 projects this year, which is an increase from the three selected in the previous year.
While NAFF is in session, filmmakers of the selected projects will be given the opportunity to meet with producers, investors, and distributors from all over the world who work with genre films. Like the previous year, the one-on-one business meetings will be conducted via an online platform during the NAFF session (July 8-13), to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Since launching NAFF in 2008, BIFAN has been operating the world’s first project market for genre films and the Fantastic Film School. Over the years, a total of 65 projects have gone on to completion, including films such as The King of Pigs (2011), The Terror Live (2013), Eerie (2018), Motel Acacia (2019) and The Closet (2020). These films have been introduced to audiences from all over the world via international film festivals and movie theaters.
The 25th BIFAN will be held from July 8-18. For 11 days, the festival will offer both online and offline screenings, as well as audience events.
