Bucheon Choice: Features

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)

Korean Fantastic: Features

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 (2 winners) | HAN Seon-hwa – Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2 /  KWON Yong-keun – Classroom Delusions 
¡Ø Jury’s Special Mention | YANG Mal-bok – Manok
Korean Fantastic Audience Award | Manok (Directed by LEE Yu-jin)
Nonghyup Distribution Award | Classroom Delusion (Directed by SEO Eun-young)
Watcha’s Pick | Classroom Delusion (Directed by SEO Eun-young)

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

I KILL U (Directed by YOO Ha)

NETPAC Award

YOUNG & FINE (Directed by KOMINAMI Toshiya)

Odd Family Award

Bookworm (Directed by Ant TIMPSON)



Commentary

Bucheon Choice: Features
The eight films featured in the Bucheon Choice: Features section of the 29th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival stood out for their originality, stylistic flair, and bold experimentation with genre conventions. Each film, grounded in distinct backgrounds, aesthetics, and approaches to genre, explored a wide spectrum of styles and narratives—from body horror and retro science fiction to Euro-spy thrillers and coming-of-age fantasy. Some works leaned into social satire, while others foregrounded emotional resonance or audiovisual experimentation, boldly challenging conventional cinematic grammar. This year’s Bucheon Choice: Features selection not only demonstrated technical excellence, but also revealed how genre imagination can meaningfully engage with the emotional and cultural climate of our times. In particular, the daring approaches and distinctive aesthetics of emerging directors heightened our expectations for the future of genre cinema. Amid this vibrant and audacious display of imagination—moving fluidly between genre tradition and subversion—every moment of the jury process was filled with surprise and discovery. It was a rare and rewarding experience that reaffirmed the boundless potential of genre filmmaking.

¢º Best of Bucheon | The Ugly Stepsister (Directed by Emilie BLICHFELDT)
This film boldly satirizes human nature by fusing grotesque body horror with the classic Cinderella narrative.
Men are portrayed as beings of greed, while women appear as figures of desire, willing to do anything to seduce them. The director presents this dynamic through sharp black humor, maintaining a consistently critical perspective throughout.
By placing modern medical procedures within a classical, Northern European setting, the film delivers a jarring yet refreshingly original contrast.
The physical and emotional suffering experienced by the protagonist, Elvira, starkly exposes the violence and destructiveness of lookism in a society where appearance equates to class and power, resonating deeply with contemporary audiences.

¢º Best Director Choice | Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Directed by Bruno FORZANI, Hélène CATTET)
Directed by the Belgian duo Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet, this film stands out with its retro sensibility reminiscent of 1960s–70s Euro-spy cinema and its striking visual flair.
Its dreamlike, experimental structure—blurring the line between reality and illusion—evokes the works of David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, while its unapologetically graphic grindhouse aesthetics further heighten the experience. The result is a bold and provocative piece that is sure to electrify genre aficionados.

¢º Jury’s Choice | Together (Directed by Michael SHANKS)
Director Michael Shanks’s feature debut, which drew attention for casting a real-life couple, makes a bold attempt to blend supernatural body horror with romantic comedy.
The film explores the stagnation and fear of codependence experienced by long-term couples through the bizarre premise of “bodily adhesion,” ultimately arriving at an emotional conclusion that affirms the need for unity to overcome adversity.
While maintaining a fair dose of genre-driven gore and intensity, the film’s overall tone remains light and playful, and the real-life married actors' chemistry between the two lead actors brings an added layer of charm.

¢º Audience Award | The Ugly Stepsister (Directed by Emilie BLICHFELDT)


Korean Fantastic: Features
All the films in this year’s Korean Fantastic: Features section showcased their own ambition and vitality, expanding the spectrum of hybrid genres such as comedy, horror, noir, and thriller. We extend our deepest gratitude and support to all the directors, crew members, and actors who have quietly completed their works in a time when the conditions for producing feature films are more challenging than ever.

¢º Best Korean Fantastic Film | Teaching Practice : Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2 (Director: KIM Min-ha)
The Best Picture Award in the Korean Fantastic: Features section goes to Student Teaching Practice. We sought to recognize the true power of a film that, while lighthearted and entertaining on the surface, achieves a distinctive sense of completeness. Director Kim Min-ha, who won the Best Director Award last year with Amoeba Girls and the School Ghost Story: Founding Anniversary, has diligently crafted this new work, offering us the joy of witnessing an artist's creative leap as they continue to explore genre wit and thematic consistency. Set in a girls’ high school, the film stands out for its sincere sensibility in blending Eastern and Western horror conventions with comedy. Furthermore, the director’s vision and execution are clearly demonstrated in the skillful incorporation of painful moments from the Japanese colonial era into a stable and engaging genre narrative.

¢º Korean Fantastic Best Director | The Square (Director: KIM Bo-sol)
The Best Director Award goes to Kim Bo-sol for the animated film The Square. Through visuals that only animation can depict, the film beautifully portrays the landscapes of Pyongyang, North Korea, and presents a delicate mise-en-scène that resonates with the characters’ emotions—marking a remarkable advancement in Korean animation. With solid craftsmanship, the director expands our imagination toward places we cannot reach, delivering profound emotion through melodrama amidst the chilly world of genre cinema that defines BIFAN.

¢º Korean Fantastic Actors | HAN Seon-hwa from Teaching Practice / KWON Yong-keun from Classroom Delusions
For the Best Actor Awards, the jury unanimously recognized Han Sun-hwa for her skillful and confident performance in Student Teaching Practice, where she portrayed a firmly defined character and delivered natural, everyday acting without any sense of discord.
Additionally, Kwon Yong-geun in Mourning Classroom left a strong impression by infusing tension into the narrative even within restrained scenes, portraying a teenage character who remains a mystery following a suicide bombing. He is an actor whose future work we eagerly anticipate.

¡Ø Jury’s Special Mention | YANG Mal-bok from Manok
Although it did not ultimately receive a main award amidst strong competition, we offer an achievement in praise of Yang Mal-bok’s individuality and courage in Madame Cheung in Iban-ri, where she portrayed a middle-aged lesbian woman with depth and nuance.

¢º Korean Fantastic Audience Award | Manok (Director: LEE Yu-Jin)

¢º Nonghyup Distribution Award | Classroom Delusions (Director: SEO Eun-young)
Mourning Classroom centers on an unresolved gap of understanding between adults and youth, teachers and students, set against the backdrop of a school bombing incident. The director’s mature perspective and unwavering determination stand out prominently.

¢º Watcha’s Pick for Korean Fantastic | Classroom Delusions (Director: SEO Eun-young)
This film tackles the timely issues of school violence and the decline of teacher authority, centering on the character Haesung, who is neither a victim nor a righteous avenger of school violence. The film sustains tension throughout its runtime by exploring the question of why Haesung committed the bombing attack. The multidimensional characters, who cannot be reduced to simple good-versus-evil roles, stand out, and their complex emotional arcs greatly contribute to the film’s immersive impact.

¢º Méliès International Festivals Federation(MIFF) Award for Best Asian Film | I KILL U (Directed by YOO Ha)
I KILL U stood out for its well-structured narrative, precise action choreography, and outstanding performance by the main actress. Its solid direction and cohesive storytelling reflect a high level of cinematic craftsmanship. Among the selections, it was a clear standout in both execution and impact.

¢º NETPAC Award | YOUNG & FINE (Directed by KOMINAMI Toshiya)
Love is the most serious thing you will ever laugh about. Thousands of years of romantic comedies have circled this truth. Stepping into the genre with new vitality is a noble and towering challenge—and the recipient of this year’s award rises to it with infectious joy and disarming talent. The film mirrors both our perfect aspirations and our despicable human nature. Light and sensitive as skin, yet burning and pulsating at heart, it elevates youthful sweet talk, flirtations— and yes, a squeeze of lusty instinct—into a contemporary moral tale. It reveals a director capable of guiding us from sweet ecstasies to the quiet ache of time passing.

¢º Odd Family Award | Bookworm (Directed by Ant TIMPSON)
Bookworm is an adventure story about Mildred setting out to find a black panther with her father, Strawn, whom she meets for the first time. While camping together, they argue and laugh, encounter a thief, and even fall off a cliff and get hurt. Yet through it all, they begin to understand each other and gradually grow into a family, making their journey all the more moving. We’re grateful to have come across this film, which reminded us that when we make an effort to understand one another, we can become true friends or even family.