Bucheon Choice: Features

Best of Bucheon

You Won’t Be Alone (Directed by Goran Stolevski)

Best Director Choice

Speak No Evil (Directed by Christian Tafdrup)

※Best Director Choice Jury’s Special Mention

Huesera (Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera)

Jury’s Choice

Vesper (Directed by Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper)

Audience Award

Sissy (Directed by Hannah Barlow, Kane Senes)

Bucheon Choice: Shorts

Best Short Film

Lucienne in a World Without Solitude (Directed by Geordy Couturiau)

Jury’s Choice for Short Film

Moshari (Directed by Nuhash Humayun)

Audience Award for Short Film

Brutalia, Days of Labour (Directed by Manolis Mavris)

Korean Fantastic: Features

Korean Fantastic Film

Body Parts (Directed by Choe Wonkyung, Jeon Byeongdeok, Lee Gwangjin, G’sam, Kim Jangmi, Wally Seo)

Korean Fantastic Best Director

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (Directed by Park Syeyoung)

Fantastic Actors (2 winners)

Seo Hyunwoo - Thunderbird

Jung Ryeowon – The Woman in the White Car

※Fantastic Actor Jury’s Special Mention

Oh Dongmin – Next Door

Korean Fantastic Audience Award

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (Directed by Park Syeyoung)

Nonghyup Award

The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (Directed by Park Syeyoung)

Next Door (Directed by Yeom Jiho)

Watcha’s Pick (2 winners)

Thunderbird (Directed by Lee Jaewon)

The Woman in the White Car (Directed by Christine Ko)

Korean Fantastic: Shorts

Best Korean Short Film

Persona (Directed by Moon Sujin)

Audience Award for Korean Short Film

The Stranger (Directed by Song Wonchan)

Watcha’s Pick (5 winners)

Bardo (Directed by Jung Jihyun)

Down the Mountain (Directed by Kim Joon)

James English Academy (Directed by Kim Kwonhoan)

Red Mask KF94 (Directed by Kim Minha)

The Stranger (Directed by Song Wonchan)

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

The Midnight Maiden War (Directed by Ninomiya Ken)

NETPAC Award

Office Royale (Directed by Seki Kazuaki)

Odd Family Award

Pororo Movie_Dragon Castle Adventure (Directed by Kang Seunghun, Yun Jeawan)

Commentary

Bucheon Choice: Features

A characteristic of this year's films selected for the Bucheon Choice: Features section was that there were many works that seriously dealt with female-centered narratives, regardless of the director's gender, including Best of Bucheon for You Won't Be Alone. Fundamental questions about human existence are raised by using the life of women and female psychology as subject matters, amazing and strange at the same time, that the directors expressed through moments in human life when facing pain and horror. The clever use of the genre film tool kit stands out capturing an even larger and more profound worldview spanning between human and society, world, space and future. This year’s selection once more proves the infinite scope and the power hidden in genre films.

► Best of Bucheon : You Won’t Be Alone (Directed by Goran Stolevski)

The balanced composition of various basic elements like directing, writing and acting make You Won’t Be Alone a wonderfully well-crafted movie. It is an phenomenal attempt to interpret the fundamentals of humanity through the means of genre cinema by using alienated and isolated human creatures borrowed from folk tales, added up with mystery. This masterpiece stands out through excellent directing and a clever approach evoking empathy from the abyss of human psychology.

► Best Director Choice : Speak No Evil (Directed by Christian Tafdrup)

The director’s ability to consistently pursue his worldview without any compromises from the beginning to the end of the film is outstanding. His flawless directing with an thorough understanding of the worldview he wants to convey deserves respect.

► Best Director Choice Special Mention : Huesera (Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera)

The jury grants a special mention to Michelle Garza Cervera, director of Huesera. This young promise of direction has been able to capture through the lens of terror the personal traumas of motherhood and female identity against social conventionalism. (Mònica Garcia)

► Jury’s Choice : Vesper (Directed by Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper)

A visually stunning post-apocalyptic masterpiece. Mesmerizing performance of Raffiella Chapman as a coming-of-age protagonist, Vesper, belongs to the league of legendary heroines such as Nausicaa of Miyazaki anime and Anya Taylor-Joy of Queen’s Gambit. (Harada Masato)

► Audience Award : Sissy (Directed by Hannah Barlow, Kane Senes)

Bucheon Choice: Shorts

I am privileged and honored to be invited as Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival's jury. Deep thanks to the organizers for letting me have this rare opportunity. But the fact still is that the filmmakers do their films for the audience. (I have made a few.) We jury are just a part of the festival system. In screenings, viewers have their own opinion about the films we are watching on the screen five meters from us. And they have paid for the ticket to see these films. So, I think the audience's opinion and award is more important for filmmakers than the jury's.

But I'm not really complaining. To see Fantastic Short Films in BIFAN has been a great time. It was at times challenging, because under the “Fantastic” category belongs lots of different kinds of films, such as Horror, Thriller, Gore, and Poetry. The topics are endless. And it has not been a waste of time. (Simojukka Ruippo)

► Best Short Film : Lucienne in a World Without Solitude (Directed by Geordy Couturiau)

This was a technically impressive film with a unique idea. It makes you think about life from other people's point of view. People are different: what makes it okay for YOU to change others? (Simojukka Ruippo)

► Jury’s Choice for Short Film : Moshari (Directed by Nuhash Humayun)

I also remember when I was a child, lying in a mosquito net with my sister on a summer night, listening to scary stories on the radio and falling asleep. With the simple setting of 'If you leave the mosquito net, you die', director Nuhash faithfully complete the classic vampire movie as a creature horror action movie. It was especially impressive that the film made good use of the limited space and contained the uneasy conflict of the sisters who lost their mother in a reversal of the ending. (Jina Kim)

► Audience Award for Short Film : Brutalia, Days of Labour (Directed by Manolis Mavris)

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

The Midnight Maiden War (Directed by Ninomiya Ken)

The sense of angstpermeates the images, sounds and narrative of The Midnight Maiden War, and point towards inevitable acts of destruction. In using the language of genre films, the director addresses societal issues of division, alienation, futility, and toxic hierarchies among people of all ages. What kind of values do we promote in our modern society, what does it take for us to fundamentally make a change for the better? Is the beauty of destruction the final answer? (Rocio Moreno, Anders E Larsson)

NETPAC Award

Office Royale (Directed by Seki Kazuaki)

For a well-made first feature film with exciting and entertaining storytelling that embodies the young, vibrant spirit of BIFAN. (Ida Anita Del Mundo, Kwak Myungdong, Jinna Lee)