Festivals: Pifan

BiFan 2024 Review: DEATH SONG, Colonial-Era Romance Sings a Lush, Eye-Poppingly Melodramatic Tune

Kim Ho-sun, one of the key directors of 1970s cinema, returned to the spotlight in the early 1990s with the sprawling period romantic epic Death Song, about the torrid affair between Korea's first professional soprano and a playwright during Korea's...

BiFan 2024 Review: THE TENANTS, Freaky Korean Real Estate Horror Allegory Lingers in the Mind


Real estate woes, job security anxiety and social inequality, all neatly packed into a metaphorical dystopia. No doubt about it, The Tenants is definitely a Korean film. Yet by providing a novel twist on its elements and staying true to...

BiFan 2024 Review: PIG THAT SURVIVED FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE, Grimy Korean Animation Offers Punchy Eco-Horror Parable

Hur Bum-wook announces himself as a talent to watch with his furious and deranged animated eco-horror parable Pig That Survived Foot-and-Mouth Disease. A cross between early Yeon Sang-ho animation works like The King of Pigs, Bong Joon-ho's Okja and Watership...

BiFan 2024 Review: BASE STATION, Paranoia Reigns in Dystopian Indie Sci-fi from Talent to Watch

After impressing many viewers and critics two years ago with his wildly original debut film The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra, Park Syeyoung returns to BiFan with his second feature, Base Station, which he co-directed with artist and filmmaker Yeon Yeji, who...

BiFan 2024 Review: IDIOT GIRLS AND SCHOOL GHOST: SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY, Lo-Fi Horror Comedy Lovingly Lampoons Far East Asian Horror Tropes

Combining The Ring and the Whispering Corridors series, the giants of J- and K-horror, and stirring the pot with tongue firmly planted in cheek, the low-budget horror spoof Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary lovingly pokes fun at the...

LOVE LIES BLEEDING and TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS Bookend 28th BiFan, Festival to Launch AI Film Competition

This year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in Korea will open with Rose Glass' acclaimed romantic neo-noir thriller Love Lies Bleeding, while Soi Cheang's Cannes-premiered Hong Kong action-drama Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In will serve as the closing...

BiFan 2023 Review: INVISIBLE MAN, 80s Korean Genre Curio Delights with Its Sincere Heart and Cheesy Effects

Mix one part H.G. Wells, one part John Carpenter (Memoirs of an Invisible Man) and about a dozen parts 80s Korean cheese and you'll probably wind up with something resembling the charming Invisible Man, an endearingly lo-fi and utterly forgotten...

BiFan 2023 Review: SANA, Takashi Shimizu Returns with J-Pop-Infused J-Horror

Takashi Shimizu, the mastermind behind the Ju-On series (he also directed the first two American remakes) is back in familiar J-horror surroundings with his second film of 2023. Sana, serving as the closing film of this year's Bucheon International Fantastic...

BiFan 2023 Review: DOOR, Magnificent Home Invasion J-Horror Classic Makes an Impression

A nervous housewife gets a frightful visit in Banmei Takahashi's little-seen psycho-sexual J-horror gem Door. With flashes of giallo inspiration and memorable sound design, this marvellously entertaining 1988 production debuted internationally with a new 4K remaster at BiFan this year....

BiFan 2023 Review: HER HOBBY, Women Band Together in Topical Rural Revenge Drama

Two women band together against the patriarchy in the sun-drenched rural revenge drama Her Hobby, the feature debut of director Ha Myung-mi. Taking a big page out of the playbook of cult island revenge drama Bedevilled, though without the graphic...

BiFan 2023 Review: 2035, Korean Reunification Mockumentary Digs to Creepy Depths after Slow Start

The division of the Korean Peninsula has long fuelled the imagination of Korean cineastes and unlocked the purse strings of local viewers. Yet while we tend to remember the more bombastic titles, such as Joint Security Area and Secret Reunion,...

BiFan 2023 Review: ABROAD, Tourists Take in the Inhospitable Sights in Eerie and Engrossing Mystery

A Korean couple travel to Minnesota in search of the Northern Lights, only to come across eerier sights in the taut and engaging mystery Abroad. This debut feature film from Italian-born ad director Giovanni Fumu offers a smoother cultural cocktail...

BiFan 2023: 6 New Films to get Excited for at the 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), Asia's finest bacchanal of genre cinema, is about to raise the curtain on its jam-packed 27th edition, which kicks off this Thursday with Ari Aster presenting Beau is Afraid for the first time...

BiFan Opens Folk Horror-Fuelled 27th Edition with Ari Aster's BEAU IS AFRAID

After weathering the pandemic and its shifting regulations for the past three editions, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) returns to full strength this year with its 27th edition, kicking off on June 29 with the local premiere of...

International Genre Focused Hub 'Fantastic Pavilion' to Launch at Marche du Film at Cannes

Variety had the exclusive yesterday, an announcement of the creation of Fantastic Pavilion, "... a significant booth and exhibition space located at the Cannes Marché du Film in the Palais des Festivals".    Announced this week during Ventana Sur in...

BiFan 2022 Review: JINJU'S PEARL, Charming but Half-Baked Ode to Local Culture

After bagging a passel of awards at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival two years ago with his rich and lively debut Festival (full disclosure, I was on that jury), director Kim Lokkyoung returns to BiFan with his sophomore work,...

BiFan 2022 Review: MIND UNIVERSE, SF Indie Explores Ideas of Grief and Memory

Given the increasingly democratic access to film technology and the explosion of box office, ratings and streaming success for genre stories in the Korean market, it's no surprise that a growing number of local filmmakers have embraced science fiction, a...

BiFan 2022 Review: A GOOD BOY, Layered Korean Indie Explores a Teacher's Worst Nightmare

Teachers often go beyond their remit to educate, especially if they notice something wrong with the children they've been charged with. In Son Kyoungwon's debut film A Good Boy, a well-meaning teacher learns just how dangerous it can be to...

BiFan 2022 Review: THE FIFTH THORACIC VERTEBRA, Singular Debut Promises Great Things to Come

Without a doubt the most unique Korean film presented at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (or indeed anywhere) this year, The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra is the debut feature of Park Syeyoung, a 26-year-old filmmaker with an arresting and inimitable...

BiFan 2022: YOU WON'T BE ALONE and BODY PARTS Take Top Prizes in Bucheon

You Won't Be Alone, the debut film of director Goran Stolevski, prevailed at the 26th edition of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), where it won the Best of Bucheon Award, the top prize in the festival's signature Bucheon...