The 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
Confirms June 27, 2019 as Opening Day!

 

The 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (hereafter BIFAN) will be opening on June 27 this year. “The 23rd BIFAN will be held from June 27 to July 7 this year,” announced Chairman CHUNG Ji-young on January 10. Festival Director SHIN Chul explained, “We moved up the dates of the festival by two weeks in order to resolve inconveniences experienced by BIFAN’s audiences and to run the festival more effectively. He added, “We’ll use the know-hows we’ve built over the years as our basis as we get everything ready for the festival.”

Since its launch in 1997, BIFAN has been recognized as Asia’s largest genre film festival. The organizers for the 23rd edition of the festival plan to increase BIFAN’s substantiality based on the sci-fi concept which strengthens the identity of BIFAN as a genre festival. In addition, a variety of events are being planned in order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Korean films this year and to look ahead to the next 100 years. 

The closing dates for this year’s entries are March 29 (Fri.) for short films and April 30 (Tue.) for feature films. The submission deadline for the NAFF (Network of Asian Fantastic Films) It Project and Fantastic Film School is April 19 (Fri.). For more information, please visit BIFAN’s official website (www.bifan.kr/eng). 

BIFAN 2018 was visited by 68,079 audience members, which is a 24% increase from the previous year. Last year’s BIFAN found itself in the limelight for offering the first public showing of North Korean films, a special program that emphasized the breakthrough of female directors, and for featuring the largest VR experience zone in the country. Last year’s B.I.G (BIFAN Industry Gathering) – which featured the most competitive It Project to date, the Gwangmyeong Weta Workshop Award, Webtoon to Film forum, etc. - also received a great deal of attention from international film professionals for becoming a stronger and more stable industry program that supports the development of the film industry. The 23rd BIFAN will be held in Bucheon for 11 days from June 27 to July 7, and B.I.G will be held for 6 days from June 30 to July 4.