The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), or BiFan, is an international

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

held annually in July in

Bucheon Bucheon () is a administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Bucheon is located away from Seoul, of which it is a satellite town, satellite city. It is located between Incheon and Seoul. Bucheon is the second ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Prior to 2015, it was known as the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan. Inaugurated in 1997, the festival focuses on South Korean and international horror, thriller, mystery and fantasy films, with particular attention to

Asian cinema Asian cinema refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Asia. However, in countries like the United States, it is often used to refer only to the cinema of East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. West Asian cinema is ...

from

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. The 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 July 2021, it featured 257 films from 47 countries. The film festival due to the impact of the COVID-19 is held in a 'hybrid' format (online and offline) at 5 different locations including Oul Madang and CGV Picnic. As per quarantine guidelines for COVID-19 pandemic containment, online screening of 154 films (61 feature films, 93 short films), which is about 60 % of the entire film festival are open on WAAVE over-the-top (OTT) service.

Program

The festival's programming consists of following sections: * Opening film * Bucheon Choice ** Bucheon Choice Features ** Bucheon Choice: Shorts 1 Edit ** Bucheon Choice: Shorts 2 * Korean Fantastic ** Korean Fantastic: Competition ** Korean Fantastic: Features ** Korean Fantastic: Shorts * World Fantastic Red * World Fantastic Blue * Family Zone * Forbidden Zone * Strange Hommage * Fantastic Short Films * Vertical Short Film Special Screening : 25 * BIFAN x wavve Online Screening

Awards

The festival is a non-competitive international film festivals with partial competition. It gives away following awards: * Bucheon Choice: It is the international competition section of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. It offers these awards: **Bucheon Choice Feature: **Best Picture (Award of KRW 20 million) **Director Award (5 million won in prize money) **Special Jury Prize (5 million won in prize money) **Featured Audience Award *Bucheon Choice: Short **Best Short Film (5 million won in prize money) **Short Film Jury Award (3 million won in prize money) **Short Audience Award *Korean Fantastic: This is a domestic competition section for the Korean films. *Korean Fantastic: Feature **Korean Fantastic Film Award (20 million won in prize money) **Korean Fantastic Director Award (5 million won in prize money) **Korean Fantastic Actor Award (2 people) **Korean Fantastic Audience Award **NH Agricultural Negotiation (distribution support award, 10 million won) **CGV Award (Distribution Support Award, 10 million won) **Best Feature Award (2 films, 5 million won each) *Korean Fantastic: Short **Korean Fantastic Short Film Award (5 million won in prize money) **Korean Fantastic Short Audience Award **Best Short Film that Watcha noticed (5 episodes, 1 million won each) *Méliès International Film Festival Federation (MIFF) Asian Film Award: This award is given for the purpose of discovering and promoting Asian fantastic genre films. *NETPAC award: This award is awarded by Netpack, the Asian Film Promotion Organization. *Odd Family Award: Instituted from 26th edition, it is awarded to the Best Film from the 'Odd Family section' by BIFAN Strange Children Jury, composed of children of Bucheon City. *Series Film Award: Instituted from 26th edition, it is awarded to the best drama series.

History

* The 11th edition of PiFan, held from 12 to 24 July 2007, featured 225 films from 33 countries. *The 12th edition of PiFan was held from 18 July to 27 July 2008. *The 18th edition of Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) was held from 17 July to 27 July 2014, featuring 210 films from 47 countries. * The 19th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival took place from 16 to 26 July, 2015. It showcased 235 films from 45 countries. * The 20th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival took place from 21 to 31 July, 2016. It showcased 320 films from 49 countries. * The 21st edition of BiFan was held from 13 July to 23 July 2017. It featured 289 films from 58 countries. * The 22nd edition of BiFan was held from 12 July to 22 July 2018. It featured 290 films from 53 countries. * The 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival took place from June 27 to 7 July, 2019. It featured 299 films from 54 countries (166 Features, 133 Shorts). * The 24th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival took place from July 9 to 16, 2020. It featured 194 films from 42 countries. * The 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 July 2021, it featured 257 films from 47 countries. * The

26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival The 26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), an international film festival held in Bucheon, South Korea, began on 7 July 2022 with the slogan 'Stay Strange'. A non-competitive international film festival with a competitive sectio ...

was held from 7 to 17 July 2022, it featured 268 films from 49 countries. From this edition a new award titled as 'Series Film Award' was started. The first Series Film Award was awarded to ''

Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean survival drama television series created by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. Its cast includes Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryou ...

''.

Boycott

The festival faced a

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

in 2005 to protest what was seen by critics as meddling by Bucheon mayor Hong Geon-pyo. A rival event called RealFanta was organized that year on the same dates as BiFan by former festival director Kim Hong-joon. The festival returned in 2006 without any dispute under the direction of veteran filmmaker

Lee Jang-ho Lee Jang-ho (born May 15, 1945) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Filmography *''Heavenly Homecoming to Stars'' (1974) - director *''It Rained Yesterday'' (1974) - director *''You Become a Star, Too'' (1975) - director *''Y ...

and a new programming team.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, South Korea Film festivals in South Korea Fantasy and horror film festivals Film festivals established in 1997 1997 establishments in South Korea Culture in Bucheon Annual events in South Korea Summer events in South Korea Festivals in Gyeonggi Province