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Best of all are the return of high-profile Korean films to the fest and a warmer interaction with the local film industry after setbacks in previous years. A press conference held at the Koreana Hotel in Seoul on June 24th, announced the full line-up.
This year PiFan will run July 18-27 in its namesake city Bucheon, in Gyeonggi-do (Province) on the outskirts of Seoul. The festival boasts a robust program of 205 films from 39 countries, including 17 World Premieres and 15 International Premieres, all under the banner of its ongoing theme, "Love, Fantasy and Adventure."
The 12th PiFan kicks off with a red carpet procession, opening ceremony and curtain raiser, Waltz with Bashir, an "animated documentary" by Israeli director Ari Folman. The film, which recreates Folman's memories of the 1982 Lebanon War, won acclaim from critics earlier this year when it premiered in competition at Cannes.
Closing the festival is Cyborg, She, the latest invention from Korean director Kwak Jae-yong, famous across Asia for his first smash hit My Sassy Girl. The new film truly fits the "fantastic" bill, blending elements of sci-fi, romance, action and melodrama. The Korean-Japanese co-production stars actress Ayase Haruka as a beautiful time-traveling cyborg who enters the life of a timid university student (played by Koide Keisuke).
Weighing in as Korea's second-biggest film event after the Pusan festival, PiFan has an impressive competition section with a variety of cash awards including the Puchon Choice award for best feature. Among the 12 films vying for honors is Korea's sleeper hit The Chaser by Na Hong-jin. The tale of an ex-cop-turned-pimp on the trail of a prostitute-killer, made stars of its two leads, Ha Jung-woo and Kim Yun-seok, and had its remake rights snapped up by Warner Bros.
Also in this section is the World Premiere of new Korean horror, Death Bell, by debut director Chang. The HD feature is set in a class of top 20 Korean high school students struggling to survive as classmates disappear in the lead up to a big test. Films from Thailand, Malaysia, Chile, Spain, Sweden, Australia and other countries fill out this thrilling section. An accompanying "Puchon Choice - Short Films" will present cash awards to the best of 12 shorts including 5 from Korea.
As always, the World Fantastic Cinema section presents a full spectrum of fantasy. Included are Korean films Hansel and Gretel by the talented Yim Pil-sung and Hwan by Park Jea-beom. Yim, whose previous film Antarctic Journal was set in an icy terrain, moves into a dark forest for this haunting reworking of the famous fairytale. Hwan, which means "illusion" is an HD horror involving a high school girl prone to severe fainting spells and some mysterious events and murders surrounding her.
Foreign highlights in this program include The Machine Girl by Noboru Iguchi, a tale of a schoolgirl who takes revenge when her family is killed and her hand cut off, King of the Hill, a Spanish lost-in-the-woods thriller by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, Abel Danger, a tale exposing the 9/11 conspiracy by US indie-director Paul Krik, and the not-to-be-missed Hindi hit Om Shanti Om, a near 3-hour musical extravaganza starring nearly all the top names in Bollywood and directed by famed choreographer Farah Khan. Weighing in as Korea's second-biggest film event after the Pusan festival, PiFan has an impressive competition section with a variety of cash awards including the Puchon Choice award for best feature. Among the 12 films vying for honors is Korea's sleeper hit The Chaser by Na Hong-jin. The tale of an ex-cop-turned-pimp on the trail of a prostitute-killer, made stars of its two leads, Ha Jung-woo and Kim Yun-seok, and had its remake rights snapped up by Warner Bros.
Also in this section is the World Premiere of new Korean horror, Death Bell, by debut director Chang. The HD feature is set in a class of top 20 Korean high school students struggling to survive as classmates disappear in the lead up to a big test. Films from Thailand, Malaysia, Chile, Spain, Sweden, Australia and other countries fill out this thrilling section. An accompanying "Puchon Choice - Short Films" will present cash awards to the best of 12 shorts including 5 from Korea.
As always, the World Fantastic Cinema section presents a full spectrum of fantasy. Included are Korean films Hansel and Gretel by the talented Yim Pil-sung and Hwan by Park Jea-beom. Yim, whose previous film Antarctic Journal was set in an icy terrain, moves into a dark forest for this haunting reworking of the famous fairytale. Hwan, which means "illusion" is an HD horror involving a high school girl prone to severe fainting spells and some mysterious events and murders surrounding her.
Foreign highlights in this program include The Machine Girl by Noboru Iguchi, a tale of a schoolgirl who takes revenge when her family is killed and her hand cut off, King of the Hill, a Spanish lost-in-the-woods thriller by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, Abel Danger, a tale exposing the 9/11 conspiracy by US indie-director Paul Krik, and the not-to-be-missed Hindi hit Om Shanti Om, a near 3-hour musical extravaganza starring nearly all the top names in Bollywood and directed by famed choreographer Farah Khan.
A new section titled Strange Homage selects films from acclaimed masters of the eccentric...
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This article appeared on
July 2, 2008
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