Awards

• Best of Bucheon: The Ugly Stepsister (Directed by Emilie BLICHFELDT)
• Best Director Choice: Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Directed by Bruno FORZANI, Hélène CATTET)
• Jury’s Choice: Together (Directed by Michael SHANKS)
• Audience Award: The Ugly Stepsister (Directed by Emilie BLICHFELDT)

• Best Short Film: A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers (Directed by Birdy Wei-ting HUNG)
• Jury’s Choice for Short Film: Ever After (Directed by Helen HIDEKO)

• Audience Award for Short Film: Gynoid (Directed by Celia GALAN)

• Best AI Film: Last Dream (Directed by KUSHIDA Takeshi)
• TimeTree Best Technical Achievement: More Tears Than Harm (Directed by Herinarivo RAKOTOMANANA)

• Audience Award: Mold (Directed by KIM Woon-ha)

• Korean Fantastic Film: Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2 (Directed by KIM Min-ha)
• Korean Fantastic Best Director: The Square (Directed by KIM Bo-sol)
• Fantastic Actors: HAN Seon-hwa – Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2 / KWON Yong-keun – Classroom Delusions

• Korean Fantastic Audience Award: Manok (Directed by LEE Yu-jin)
• Nonghyup Award: Classroom Delusion (Directed by SEO Eun-young)
• Watcha’s Pick: Classroom Delusion (Directed by SEO Eun-young)

• Best Korean Short Film: Tongue (Directed by LIM Da-seul)

• Audience Award for Korean Short Film: Floor (Directed by JO Bareun)

• I KILL U (Directed by YOO Ha)

• YOUNG & FINE (Directed by KOMINAMI Toshiya)

• Bookworm (Directed by Ant TIMPSON)

Bucheon Choice Jury (Feature)

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  Claudia KIM

  Claudia Kim made her debut in 2005 and has since built a steady career both domestically and internationally. Following her Hollywood breakthrough as Dr. Helen Cho in Avengers: Age of Ultron, she has taken on key roles in global productions such as The Dark Tower and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. She continues to be active in Korean projects, including the Netflix series Gyeongseong Creature (Seasons 1 & 2), JTBC drama The Atypical Family, and the film A Normal Family. In 2025, she won Best Supporting Actress in Film at the Baeksang Arts Awards for her performance in A Normal Family.

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  KIM Won-kuk

  In 2014, he founded the production company Hive Media Corp and began by producing Inside Men, which became the highest-grossing R-rated film in Korean box office history. He went on to plan and produce numerous films, including 12.12: The Day, which surpassed 10 million admissions, and Harbin, which was released in 2024. These two films earned him Best Movie at the Baeksang Arts Awards. Having captivated both audiences and critics with a wide range of works, he is set to release more films and dramas in the second half of 2025.

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  Alexandre O. PHILIPPE

  He is the Creative Director at Exhibit A Pictures. Most of his films focus on analyzing the most influential works of master filmmakers. Past works, including 78/52 and Memory: The Origins of Alien, were both screened at Sundance Film Festival. Lynch/Oz and You Can Call Me Bill were invited to BIFAN.

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  Lorna TEE

  Lorna Tee is a prolific pan-Asian film producer who works across Asia and Europe. She has held executive roles at companies such as Focus Films and Variety, and has taken on key positions at various film festivals including Berlin International Film Festival and CinemAsia Film Festival. Currently, she serves as the curator of Mylab, international advisor for BARUNSON E&A, Secretary-General of the AFAN, and advisor for the JAFF Market. She was awarded the Filmmaker of the Year by the Chinese Film Association of Malaysia and was listed on The Hollywood Reporter Next Gen.

Korean Fantastic Jury (Feature)

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  KIM So-mi

  Kim So-mi is a film journalist and chief reporter on the editorial team at Cine21, a weekly film magazine. She began her career in film criticism in 2013 as a founding editor of the independent magazine anno., and later worked as a curator at CGV Arthouse, where she led audience engagement programs on-site. She is currently active across various media platforms including the Korean Film Archive’s Topabogi and Genie TV’s film channel. She also regularly participates as a moderator in audience Q&A sessions at film festivals and other cinematic events.

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  LEE Dong-ha

  He worked as a producer on numerous films, including the Korea-France co-production A Brand New Life, Poetry, which won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, Hwayi: A Monster Boy, and A Man and a Woman. In 2014, he founded the production company REDPETER FILMS, and later produced Train to Busan, which became a major box office hit drawing over 11.5 million viewers in Korea. More recently, he has produced various OTT projects and is currently preparing for the release of Hideaway , a film based on the novel of the same name.

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  James MARSH

  Originally from England, James Marsh is a freelance film critic, broadcaster, and consultant who has been based in Hong Kong since 2001. He writes for the South China Morning Post and Deadline, is resident film critic for RTHK Radio 3, and Asia Editor at ScreenAnarchy. In addition, he serves as a programming consultant for Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas and Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, and is English Editor for the Hong Kong International Film Festival and also a voting member of the Critics Choice Association.

Bucheon Choice: Shorts & Korean Fantastic: Shorts

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  KIM Hyung-Seok

  He began studying film at the KOFA Culture School Seoul and completed a master’s program at the Graduate School of Digital Image and Contents at Dongguk University. From 2000 to 2009, he worked as a journalist and editor-in-chief at the film magazine Screen. He later worked as a film journalist and conducted research on the history of Korean cinema. He started his film festival career as a programmer at the Pyeongchang International Peace Film Festival and later served as chair of the Chuncheon Film Festival. His publications include KIM Jee-woon, Film Editing, Korean Cinema in the 21st Century, and Korean Cinema of the 1990s.

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  NAM Dong-hyub

  A graduate of Sangmyung University’s Department of Film, he honed his directorial skills as an assistant director on various films including Penny Pinchers, High Society, and Snatch Up. His debut feature Handsome Guys blends occult and comedy genres with a fresh, bold vision that earned high praise from leading Korean directors such as Kim Sung-soo, Hur Jinho, and Bong Joon Ho. Through this film, he received the Panorama Audience Award at 2024 Sitges Film Festival and the Festival Jury Award at 2025 Florence Korea Film Fest, leaving a strong impression on critics and audiences around the world. He is now recognized as a rising filmmaker poised to shape the future of Korean cinema.

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  TAKEGASA Shoko

  Takegasa Shoko joined the SSFF&Asia after working in the finance industry. Since 2016, she has worked as a programming manager, taking part in international festival screenings and markets to promote Japanese short films and the festival itself. In 2021, she was appointed Festival Director of SSFF&Asia and has served as a jury member at various film festivals.

Méliès International Festivals Federation(MIFF)
Award for Best Asian Film

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  Lorenzo BERTUZZI

  Born in Trieste, Italy in 1967, Lorenzo Bertuzzi is co-founder of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival and currently serves as its programmer and festival MC. He gained recognition as a journalist for Nocturno Cinema, a leading Italian genre film magazine. In addition, he is also active as the coordinator of the Méliès International Film Festival Network.

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  Eugenio PUERTO

  Eugenio Puerto is the founder and CEO of the film and cultural services agency, Pacay Kulturmedia. He has been in charge of programming the Bilbao Fantastic Film Festival for 15 years. He also collaborates with various international film festivals and handles DCP mastering for major Spanish distributors, as well as subtitling for a wide range of films.

Netpac Award

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  Benjamin ILLOS

  Benjamin Illos, who studied literature at the Sorbonne University, worked with Pierre Rissient for a decade, promoting films and filmmakers. At Cannes Directors' Fortnight, he played a key role in discovering and reevaluating directors, particularly from Asia. He is currently active as a programmer for the Hainan Island International Film Festival, Jecheon International Music & Film Festival, and the Fribourg International Film Festival. In addition to his work in film criticism, he has also been actively involved in screenwriting.

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  KIM Sunghwan

  Kim Sunghwan is the CEO of Rainbow Factory, a film production company, he has planned and produced various works including Tell Me That You Love Me and Made on the Rooftop. He has also imported and distributed numerous international films such as Stranger by the Lake and 120BPM. Since 2011, he has served as a programmer for the Seoul International Pride Film Festival and has contributed to the publication of queer cinema literature, including A History of Korean Queer Cinema.

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  Crystal KWOK

  Actress, writer, and filmmaker based in Hong Kong. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies and has completed advanced studies in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her directorial debut feature, The Mistress, won the Audience Choice Award at the Deauville Asiatic Film Festival, and her feature documentary Blurring the Color Line received multiple awards at various festivals, including the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival. Bridging creative production and academic work, she was a visiting scholar in the Department of Comparative Literature, Gender Studies, and History at the University of Hong Kong.

Preliminary Jury of Korean Shorts

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  SEO Bohyung

  He graduated from the Time Arts Department of Kaywon University of Art & Design and the École nationale supérieure d'arts de Paris-Cergy. He participated in various exhibitions as a media artist. Since he started the short film Broken Sleep, he has been directing short films. He was invited to the 2024 BIFAN with Funeral Suit and is currently working on his upcoming projects.

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  AHN Byungrae

  Ahn Byungrae began his career in film in 2005 as a member of a production team. Since then, he has gained experience producing content across various platforms, including film. In 2020, he founded the film production company Gozip Studio, and has since produced The Girl on a Bulldozer, A Home from Home, The Other Child, My Best, Your Least, and The Land of Morning Calm. He continues to actively produce content to this day.

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  LIM Ohjeong

  Born in 1982, she graduated from Chung-Ang University and went on to study Filmmaking at the School of Film, TV & Multimedia, Korea National University of Arts. Her short film Lie won the Best Film Award in the “A Short Film About Love” section at the 2009 Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, and she received the Excellence Award at the 2014 Daegu Independent Short Film Festival for No More No Less. She has directed various other short films, and Hail to Hell marks her feature film debut.

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  CHA Hanbi

  Cha Hanbi is a film journalist, a writer for the online film magazine REVERSE, and an editorial board member of Progressive Media Movement Research Journal ACT!. She is also a member of the Film Critics Committee of the Association of Korean Independent Film & Video. She published a collection of film essays titled All the Noise Is Rewritten as Rainbow.

Preliminary Jury of International Shorts

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  Kristin JI

  Studied English Language and Literature at Chung-Ang University, and received her MA degree with the thesis Cinema of Ang Lee as a Popular Auteur at the Graduate School of Arts of Chung-Ang University. She had served as a programmer in Chungmuro International Film Festival (2007-2008) and Seoul International Family Film Festival (2010-2011). She was a jury member of the GrandOFF World Independent Film Award(2014-2016) in Poland. She has worked at the Asiana International Short Film Festival as a programmer from 2013 to 2021. She has been serving as a selection committee for international short films at BIFAN since 2023.