28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
Special screening of PARK Chan-wook's The Sympathizer
The 28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN, Festival Director SHIN Chul) will host a very special screening of Park Chan-wook's new series The Sympathizer. The complete series with all 7 episodes will be screened.
PARK Chan-wook's 'resonating masterpiece' praised for its attention to detail,
its black humor, and a deeply lingering ending
The special screening on July 11, will break boundaries between cinema
and OTT screen, and cross the line between cinema and literature
¡ã Screenshot from The Sympathizer (Source: Coupang Play)
Park Chan-wook's new series The Sympathizer, which premiered in Korea exclusively on Coupang Play in April this year, will be screened for the first time on a big cinema screen during the upcoming 28th BIFAN. The screening is scheduled for July 11 (THU) at CGV Sopoong. Written and directed by Park Chan-wook and produced by A24, The Sympathizer tells the story of a young mixed-race Vietnamese man who defected from Vietnam to the United States in the 1970s. The series revolves around his struggle between two civilizations and two ideologies. This is Park Chan-wook's first new work since winning the Palme d'Or at the 75th Cannes Film Festival for his film Decision to Leave in 2022, and the second global series after Little Drummer Girl (2018) for the BBC. It has proved to be another masterpiece of the director, as it has not missed the top 10 of global TV shows on FlixPatrol since its release.
BIFAN is actively exploring the redefinition and the future of cinema in the wake of tectonic shifts in the media landscape, in 2022, by establishing the new 'Series Film Award', and this year, by introducing the first international competition for AI films in Korea: Bucheon Choice: AI Films. This special screening of The Sympathizer was also planned as a way to break down the boundaries between different medias and to meet the desire of the audience to see the complete series on the big cinema screen. Additionally, the special screening of The Sympathizer is particularly meaningful as the original novel of the same title, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning Vietnamese-American author Viet Thanh Nguyen, won the 3rd Bucheon Diaspora Literature Award. The Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award is an international literary award established by Bucheon City, which joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in November 2017, to create a world of solidarity, hospitality and cooperation with cities around the world through literature.
The series will be screened at BIFAN's special section for film enthusiasts, the Night of the Living ‘Duk-hu’, and will become a meaningful opportunity to check out a creative work that crosses over between cinema screen and OTT, film and literature.
In Korea, The Sympathizer is currently available exclusively on Coupang Play. In cooperation with Coupang Play, Moho Film, and HBO the complete series will be shown to an audience on a big cinema screen for the first time.
The 28th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival will be held from July 4th to 14th in Bucheon City, presenting a wide range of works to the audience, including AI films, which will provide a bird's eye view of global trends. Major screenings facilities are at Bucheon City Hall, Korea Manhwa Museum, CGV Spoung, Bucheon Art Bunker B39. Online screenings will be available on the internet platform wavve. For the first time, BIFAN will hold its opening ceremony at the landmark Bucheon Arts Center.