B.I.G Closing Ceremony!
Announcing the Winners of the NAFF Awards!
The 23rd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s (Festival Director SHIN Chul, hereafter BIFAN) industry program, B.I.G (BIFAN Industry Gathering), held its closing ceremony on July 3. International film industry professionals gathered at the closing ceremony to see which NAFF (Network of Asian Fantastic Films) projects would be honored with an award.
The closing ceremony for B.I.G, which is currently in its 4th year, took place at Bucheon Art Bunker B39. The joint NAFF Project Awards Ceremony and closing ceremony were attended by SHIN Chul, festival director of BIFAN, PARK Gunsub, deputy chairperson of BIFAN’s organizing committee, and CHO Hyojun, director general of the Culture and Economy Bureau of Bucheon City. B.I.G organizer Jongsuk Thomas NAM, who took care of the hosting duties for the evening, said: “NAFF, which is now in its 12th year, was joined by 92 agencies that engaged in 526 business meetings. I’m happy that this year’s results werethe best since our inception.”
The 12th NAFF genre film project market presented a total of 30 projects: 19 official IT Project selections, 5 Project Spotlight Taiwan selections, 4 Nordic Genre Invasion selections, 1 Blood Window selection, and 1 SitgesPitchbox selection. The four-member jury consisting of international film professionals selected winners for the nine awards categories after conducting a rigorous screening process and individual meetings with the filmmakers.
The jury members for this year included Ivy HO, managing director and producer of Irresistible Films, Hong Kong; Kilian KERWIN, EVP of international development and production at Ivanhoe Pictures/SK Global Entertainment, USA; Jonathan H. KIM, CEO of Hanmac Culture Group, Korea; and Jacob WONG, director of the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum, Hong Kong. Jacob WONG, who spoke on behalf of the jury, revealed: “I hope that all of these projects will come back to BIFAN as completed films. The jury judged the projects based on the project’s concept, artistic merit, potential to go on to completion, and the presentation skills of the filmmakers.”
The cash awards, which consist of the Bucheon Award, Bound Entertainment Award, NAFF Award, NAFF Korean Award, and DHL Award, are worth a total of KRW 55 million. The Bucheon Award, worth KRW 15 million, was presented to director Hugo KEIJZER of The Occupant. The Occupant tells the story of a protagonist who survives a helicopter crash and a pilot who develops supernatural strength after the crash. The jury chose The Occupant as a highly anticipated project due to its mystery thriller story line.
The Bound Entertainment Award, worth KRW 15 million, went to director PHAN Linh of Dogcow. Set in a future Saigon where environmental pollution has become severe, the project depicts the confused emotions felt by the protagonist as they watch their pet dog changing into another creature as a result of the pollution. We are looking forward to seeing how PHAN Linh - who has directed many hit films in Vietnam – will handle the subject of pollution, which is one of the biggest concerns of modern society.
The NAFF Award, worth KRW 10 million, went to director Boaz ARMONI of Fingernail. Fingernail is a project that explores the nature of father-son relationships through the story of a father and son who live in an isolated house. Within the realm of father-son relationships, the project mainly looks at the relationship between authority and dependence, love and hate, and crisis and faith. The project has brought together Boaz ARMONI, a recipient of a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and Yoav ROEH, producer at Gum Films.
The NAFF Korean Awards – given to two Korean projects among the official It Project selections who receive KRW 5 million each – were presented to HANA and Lay the Ghost. HANA, which tells the story of a high-school girl who ends up having to look after an unusual young girl named Hana, has already been completed as a short film by the project’s director, NAKANISHI Mai. The short film has been invited to various film festivals such as BIFAN, Sitges– International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, and the Mumbai Film Festival. Lay the Ghost, a project by YU Eunjeong
who won the Best Director Choice award last year at BIFAN, starts off by asking the question, “Is growth always a positive thing?” and then goes on to highlight contrasting puberty experiences. The project’s producer KIM Shinjaetearfully remarked while accepting the award: “I’m happy to be able to continue working on the film with an old friend.”
The DHL Award, funded by DHL Korea, was given to David CHANG’s The Medium:The Flaming Exorcist Sinner. The project, which is based on a best-selling Taiwanese novel, shows an individual who fights against evil in order to atone for their mistakes, and an individual who tries to avoid responsibility.
The Moneff Award and Mocha Chai Award, which provide post-production support, were presented to NO Zinsoo’s A Transfer Student and Santiago Fernandez CALVETE’s Vurdalak Blood, respectively. The Blood Window Award went to Lucas VOSSOUGHI’s RECURSE, and the SitgesPitchbox Award to Amanda EU’s Tiger Stripes, giving the filmmakers an opportunity to pitch their respective projects at SitgesPitchbox in Spain and Blood Window in Argentina.