The 28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival,
XR Section 'Beyond Reality' Call for Submissions!
XR works produced after 2023 are due by April 30th
XR Section 'Beyond Reality' will be held from July 1-14, 2024
¡ã Audience members watch the 'Beyond Reality' exhibition at the 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in 2023. at the 'Beyond Reality' exhibition.
The 28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN, Festival Director: SHIN Chul) is calling for XR works to be screened in the 'Beyond Reality' category. Submissions will be accepted until midnight on April 30, 2023 for works produced after January 1, 2023. To submit an application and screening materials, please visit
https://vp.eventival.com/bifan/2024.
Submissions will be reviewed for inclusion in this year's XR Beyond Reality program. The selected works will be screened during the 28th BIFAN's Beyond Reality exhibition. Selected works will be notified individually in May. For inquiries, please email the VR Business Team at newmedia@bifan.kr.
BIFAN has been the fastest to introduce VR (virtual reality) and XR (extended reality) content among Korean film festivals. Since 2019, the Beyond Reality section has been a permanent feature, and since 2020, the festival has co-hosted 'Digital November' with the French Embassy in Korea. In 2022, a partnership agreement was signed with Kaohsiung Film Festival (Taiwan), Sandbox Immersive Festival (China), and Beyond the Frame Festival (Japan) to support the next generation of new media artists.
Last year, Beyond Reality exhibited 31 films, including
Gaudí's Sacred Atelier, From the Main Square, and
All That Remains.
Gaudí's Sacred Atelier (directed by Stéphane LANDOWSKI and Gaël CABOUAT), an immersive experience of Gaudí's workshop;
From the Main Square (directed by Pedro HARRES), which received acclaim at leading international film festivals; and
All Those Remains (directed by Craig QUINTERO), which combines performance and VR content, provided a glimpse into the future of storytelling.
¡ã 48-hour creative project with 'Beyond Reality' in the second half of
2023 'Content Jam BIFAN x Unity Korea' on-site
Beyond Reality has also utilized various creative tools such as Unity and V.R. Chat to create new content and discover budding creators. One example is the 'Content Jam BIFAN x Unity Korea' held in September last year. Participants utilized Unity's real-time render engine, VR Chat, a metaverse platform for easy motion capture, and various generative AI tools to create videos within a 48-hour time limit, demonstrating a new model for technology-based filmmaking. The content created by the six teams, featuring virtual humans, multiple personas, AI, and horror stories, will premiere at this year's festival.
"This year's 'Beyond Reality' will introduce new content creation technologies including AI creation workshops," said Jay KIM, XR Curator at BIFAN. "We will provide useful information to filmmakers, creators, and audiences and foster budding artists."
At the 28th edition of BIFAN (July 4-14), Beyond Reality will take place July 1-14.