Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival Announces Projects For NAFF Project Market
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I do love me a good co-production market. Not being able to attend one in the last year and a half, and seeing the challenges facing the global filmmaking community these first few months of the longest January on record, has me itching to get back into the fray.
Co-pros have had to adapt to these circumstances this year and the NAFF project market will go digital this July. The host festival BIFAN is holding screenings in cinemas and online from July 9th through 16th.
A total of thirty projects will take part in this year's NAFF project market. Nineteen international projects will participate in the It Project Selections. Eleven homegrown projects will participate in Project Spotlight: Korea Selections.
Filmmakers of the selected projects will meet with producers, investors, and distributors from all over the World who work with genre films, conducted via an online platform.
I was reminded about NAFF when my friend from Colombia, Juan Diego Escobar Alzate, director of Luz The Flower of Evil, told me that he has his new project in the It Project Selections. He and I were supposed to be hanging out in Brazil this week, but you know, plague and hell fire.
Normally you do not get a lot of information about any participating projects until the market begins but he told us what his new film, Searching for the Black Rainbow, was about. He called it a folk horror lovecraftian spaghetti western. I mean. Yeah. Sign us up.
I also see that Sergio Uguet de Resayre, producer of the excellent Jesus Shows You The Way to The Highway also has a new project there called The Lighthouse.
NAFF also has a substantial awards program. Winning projects will be awarded cash awards and production support. Particular focus will be paid towards Asian and Korean productions to boost the genre filmmaking community in the region.
All participants and more information about NAFF follows.
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.The selections possess various characteristics that are influenced by the cultural area in which they hail from. This year’s projects from Europe and North America are highly experimental in terms of genre, while the South American projects make you anticipate seeing them in their completed form, although they are still just in their developmental stages. (It Projects include co-productions between other countries and Asian countries, as well as projects by filmmakers who wish to co-produce with an Asian country.) 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). In order to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, the judges screened the projects online from May 8 (Fri.) to 22 (Fri.). “Screening these outstanding projects with NAFF was a special opportunity and an honor for all of the judges. Each project was planned so meticulously, and I hope to see them at BIFAN as completed films in the near future,” expressed judge Kini S. KIM.The 30 official selections will be candidates for the NAFF awards, which present the winning projects with cash awards and production support. The amount of support and scale of the awards have increased for this year’s project market. A new feature this year includes the launch of the Work In Progress category for projects that have completed filming, for which a total of 300 million won in post-production support will be awarded. 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.From July 11-15, while the NAFF project market 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. The one-on-one business meetings will be conducted via an online platform this year to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.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 Selections1 A Burning Worm (Hong Kong, Taiwan)WONG Fei-PangWinnie TSANGTonikaku Pictures2 CREMATION (Vietnam, Malaysia)Manton Shanhuanth Jacen TANNguyen Thi XUAN TRANG, Lim Dagatan Kenneth, Azizuddin Iskander,Manton ShanhuanTH, Jacen TANFeisk Sdn Bhd3 Deviant (Spain)Daniel M. CANEIROKevin IGLESIAS RODRÍGUEZAmania Films4 Escape to Oz (Australia, China)Sam VOUTASJane ZHENG, Melanie ANSLEYPeking Pictures5 The Fever (Argentina, Brazil, France)Mateo BENDESKYAgustina COSTA VARSI, Daniel PECH, Clement DUBOINVolpe Films6 ICE (UK)Stephanie JOALLANDSean MCCONVILLEFrenzy Films LTD7 In My Mother's Skin (The Philippines)Kenneth DAGATANBianca BALBUENA, Bradley LIEWEpicmedia Productions, Inc.8 Journey Beyond the Night (Japan)TAKAYUKI KayanoMASUMI AikawaAlpha PRODUCE Co., Ltd9 L.E.S. Dojo & The Curse of Muramasa L.E.S. (USA, Japan) Justin AMBROSINO10 The Lighthouse (USA, the Czech Republic)Neal DHANDSergio UGUET DE RESAYRE, Jon ARANDA11 Marry My Dead Body (Taiwan)CEHNG Wei-HaoJIN Pai-LunnCalendar Studios12 Precious Blood (Mexico, Argentina)Andrés KAISERNicole MAYNARD, Martín ALIAGACine Feral13 The River Always Flows (Singapore)GOH Ming Siu, Scott C. HILLYARDGOH Ming Siu, Scott C. HILLYARDMonkey & Boar14 Searching for the Black Rainbow (Colombia, Argentina, Spain )Juan Diego ESCOBAR ALZATEJavier DIAZ, David MATAMOROSCoruya Cine15 Suli (China, Taiwan, Hungary)Lin TUPatrick Mao HUANG, Sol YEFlash Forword Entertainment16 Ten Secrets of Muoi (Vietnam, Korea)GIANG Le BinhHANG TRINH Le Minh, Bobby S. KIM, KIM Tae-Hyung Silver Moonlight Entertainment, Good Fellas17 Under A Blood Red Sky (Indonesia)Adriyanto DEWOPerlita DESIANIRelate Films18 Variance (Malaysia)Nir PANIRYFOO Yong LinIt Must Be Entertainment19 Zsazsa Zaturnnah Vs. The Amazonistas Of Planet X (The Philippines, France)Avid LIONGORENFranck PRIOTRocketsheep StudioProject Spotlight: Korea Selections1 About Subin (South Korea)SONG Hyunseok2 The Fear of Seoul (South Korea)KIM HyunjinLEE CheolminMayjune Media3 The Ghost (South Korea)LIM KyunghoLEE MinhoDirector's Home4 Historical Verification (South Korea)LEE MinseobMOON Jeankyung5 The Housemaid (South Korea)CHOI Eun6 My Secret Friend (South Korea)KIM EunyoungStanley KWAKINDIESTORY Inc.7 Satanee (South Korea)SON SeungungKay heeyoung KIMK-Dragon8 Seire (South Korea)PARK Kang9 The Vampyre: A New Life (South Korea)JUNG KunjaeYOUN HeeyoungMOCUSHURA10 Vengeance is Ours (South Korea)Jude JUNGJenny KIMSiren Pictures11 White Blue Moon (South Korea)YOON JaeyeonJEON YoungmoonLeo Film
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