The 28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN, Festival Director Shin Chul) held the ‘Bucheon Choice: AI Films’ award ceremony today, July 7, at the Bucheon Arts Center. The winners were selected based on the creative use of AI, cinematic and audio artistry, and originality. The Audience Award was voted on by the public. Best AI Film went to Where Do Grandmas Go When They Get Lost? (France, director Léo Cannone). The Best Technical Achievement and the Audience Award went to Snowfall (Korea, dirctor Bae Junwon). Special Mentions went to Latex Kid (Spain, director Fran Gas) and One More Pumpkin (Korea, director Hansl von Kwon).
About the difficulties of decision making process Jury member Shin Chul commented “The evaluation of the 15 competing films took a long time and involved a lot of discussion. We had a hard time because there are not many conventions in the AI film competition category yet.”
Jury member Sten-Kristian SALUVEER then read the jury’s note: “In 2024 the Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival took a bold step towards supporting the future of artistic and cinematic creation as a first film festival in Korea an one of the pioneers among global film festivals to host the AI film competition. We, the jury, were astounded by the high quality of the programming of the competition, the narrative coherence, the emotional impact and the technical quality of the films we saw in this pioneering competition program, especially understanding that AI technology is taking first steps. We hope and foresee that this unique competition program and the winners of the inaugural edition will thus not only advance the visual storytelling but will democratize and demystify AI filmmaking and will unleash its potential to the Korean and global filmmaking community as well powering unique artistic voices yet to be heard and seen.”
Winner of the Bucheon Choice: AI Films, Where Do Grandmas Go When They Get Lost? explores the question of where the grandmothers who have “disappeared” from our lives might have gone through the eyes of a child in a bizarre and poignant way. Due to personal reasons the director could not attend the award ceremony.
The winner of both the Best Technical Achievement Award and the Audience Award, Snowfall depicts Soyo waiting for Yuko, who won’t come because of a heavy snowfall, asking questions about loss and reason. The film was produced with the help of various AI technologies – apart from the script. Director Bae Junwon commented: “I didn’t expect this award. Thank you to the audience for enjoying the film. We will do our best to continue to make good films.”
Among the two films that received a special mention, Latex Kid is a story about the latex-skinned rock star “Latex Kid” trying to survive in a decadent society. One More Pumpkin is a mystery horror film that tells the secret story of an elderly Korean couple who is is over 200 years old. The bizarre new visuals, which combine Western Halloween culture with Eastern images, created by generative AI, give audiences a fresh experience that only AI films can provide.
The 28th BIFAN will still be in full swing until 14 July. The 253 films from 49 countries will be screened at venues like Bucheon City Hall, the Korea Manhwa Museum, and CGV Sopung, and streamed online through the platform wavve. Many Korean and international filmmakers will talk with the audience after the screenings of their films. The photo exhibition “One and Only Son Yejin” part of this year’s actor’s retrospective dedicated to actress Son Yejin, can be visited at U-PLEX at the 1st floor of the Hyundai Department Jungdong Branch. The XR exhibition ‘Beyond Reality’ is taking place at Bucheon Art Bunker B39.
