These are our fifteen recommended feature films from the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), which will take place from July 4 – 14, 2024, in Bucheon, Korea.

For this festival we also selected 20 short films you can read the articles here: Part 1 and Part 2

Base Station by Park Syeyoung, Yeon Yeji – Korea | 2024 – 67 minutes | World Premiere

If the previous work, The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (2022), was clad in the skin of a monster movie, Base Station can be described as an SF black comedy. Eden believes that her younger brother Hyunho is suffering from ‘electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome’ and flees to escape electromagnetic waves. However, even in the mountains, Hyunho’s condition does not improve. They merely continue a life isolated from society. In PARK Syeyoung’s films, something is always being transported. It could be second-hand trade goods (Cashback), live fish for a gang boss (Godspeed), a mattress where moldy life forms grow, or simply a gaze (Vertigo). In Base Station, what is being transported is intangible, the invisible waves of ‘electromagnetic waves’ themselves. Eden tries to escape the invisible with Hyunho. However, the first scene of the film, as they head into the mountains, subtly reveals that the electromagnetic waves are pursuing the siblings as if possessed by ghosts. The world ghostly haunted by invisible electromagnetic waves is depicted through the unique energy of director PARK Syeyoung and YEON Yeji, who also stars in the film. (PARK Dong-soo)

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Doombung: The Puddle by Lee Dong-ju – Korea | 2024 – 99 minutes | World Premiere

The title ‘Doombung’ refers to a pond that acts as either a life-saving elixir or a deadly poison, depending on who encounters it. The area is shrouded in the mysterious legend of the ‘Goblin’s Pond.’ The film is structured into three episodes: ‘Goblin Frequency,’ ‘Electric Brain,’ and ‘Life Water.’ The protagonists of each episode face harrowing experiences: a fisherman loses his life to the pond’s ominous aura, a Bitcoin miner loses his mother by following computer instructions, and a person experiences bizarre physical changes after drinking the pond water. Each story portrays a unique version of hell for its characters. Doombung: The Puddle primarily follows a ghost story format but introduces elements of slasher, low-budget sci-fi, and creature features, showcasing the director’s ambitious genre-blending style. The common thread that ties these episodes together is the danger each protagonist faces, driven by personal greed. The goblin’s pond ultimately perpetuates its legend by feeding on human selfishness. (HUH Namwoong)

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Her Hobby by Ha Myungmi – Korea | 2023 – 118 minutes

The movie begins as Jeong-in returns to her hometown, ‘Pak-ha Village.’ Wounded and weary, Jeong-in can’t let her guard down even there. The villagers look down on her and threaten her. However, when Hye-jung moves to the village, the atmosphere begins to change. As she doesn’t engage in farming and lives a completely different lifestyle, the villagers see Hye-jung’s with disdain. From that moment on, the intensity of the movie rises sharply. As Jeong-in and Hye-jung confront those who try to harm them, in order to find their own inner strength, the satisfaction of the progress is amplified. Starting with realistic landscapes, the flow of this story of women refusing to be passive embarking on a journey is strangely captivating. It is based on a mystery novel by author Seo Miae. (Rhana JANG)

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House of Sayuri by Shiraishi Koji – Japan | 2024 – 108 minutes | World Premiere

The Kamiki family, after years of effort, finally moves into their dream home, only to experience strange occurrences. Five out of seven family members die under mysterious circumstances, leaving only the grandmother with dementia and her teenage grandson. They eventually realize that the vengeful spirit of a girl named Sayuri, who lived there ten years ago, is behind the tragedies. Now, it’s their turn to prepare for a fierce fight for survival. (KIM Yong-eon)

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Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary by Kim Min-ha – Korea | 2024 – 90 minutes | World Premiere

Ji-yeon (Kim Do-yeon), a high school senior who dreams of becoming a film director but can’t manage to score higher than the 8th grade on her college entrance exams, stumbles upon a video tape from 1998. She learns that her senior classmates, who played hide and seek with a ghost in the school on the night of the school’s founding anniversary, eventually scored perfect marks on their college entrance exams! Determined, she and her friends decide to play hide and seek with the ghost themselves. Joining her are Hyun-jung (Kang Shin-hee), who can easily carry a heavy camera thanks to her immense strength; Eun-byul (Son Ju-yeon), an aspiring actress obsessed with her vlog despite having no subscribers; and Min-joo (Jeong Ha-dam), a Japanese culture otaku at an extraordinary level. Together, they face the ghost in an extraordinary manner. At every potentially clichéd moment, they call out “cliché!” “melodrama!” and “jump scare!” to preemptively tackle triteness and sublimate the genre’s stereotypes and weaknesses into humor, making it impossible not to laugh. Successfully transforming the common setting of a school horror into an irresistibly funny comic horror film, the grand finale adorned by Jeong Ha-dam as Min-joo is particularly captivating. This is a feature film by director Kim Min-ha, who has showcased excellent humor in his shorts Red Mask KF94 (2022) and Burger Song Challenge (2023). (PARK Got)

Indera by Woo Ming Jin – Malaysia | 2024 – 104 minutes | World Premiere

Joe’s car overheated and broke down while he was traveling on a remote mountain road with his pregnant wife. While he left briefly to find water, an accident happened to his wife. In 1985, nine years later, Joe, still unable to forget his wife, struggles with severe financial difficulties while raising their daughter, Sofia, alone. Joe gets a job as a handyman and moves into a house deep in the mountains with Sofia. There, he meets a Javanese woman and some children who exhibit strange behaviors and an ominous atmosphere. Directed by the renowned Southeast Asian director WOO Ming Jin, the film showcases his mature directing skills. The setting in 1985 is the year of the Memali Incident in Malaysia, which was triggered by political factionalism and religious conflicts. Against this historical backdrop, the film meticulously visualizes the nightmares and hallucinations experienced by Joe and Sophia. The intricately designed spaces, including the entrance to the Javanese woman’s house, the mansion itself, and the well in the yard, all contribute to amplifying the psychological horror. (KIM Young-woo)

Let’s Go Karaoke! by Yamashita Nobuhiro – Japan | 2023 – 108 minutes |  Korean Premiere

Middle school choir leader OKA Satomi unexpectedly receives a request from yakuza member Narita Kyoji. He asks him to become his singing coach to avoid the dreadful punishment given to the last place in the gang’s singing contest. What starts as an unlikely pairing of a middle school student and a yakuza feels like a ‘natural disaster’ at first. The straight-laced boy, experiencing the gloom of adolescence, encounters the ‘extraordinary’ world of the yakuza, glimpses an unfamiliar realm of rebellion, and learns to let go of his obsession with being ‘useful.’ As he builds a relationship that oscillates between friendship and affection with someone from such a different world, he gradually embraces the change that comes with growing up. Based on WAYAMA Yama’s manga of the same name, the film features a delicate adaptation by screenwriter Nogi Akiko and captivating performances by the lead actors. The unforgettable climax features X Japan’s hit song ‘Kurenai,’ leaving a lasting impression. The film asserts that the essence of singing is love, a claim that resonates powerfully by the end. (KIM Yong-eon)

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Matched by Uchida Eiji – Japan | 2023 – 110 minutes | Korean Premiere

‘Will Will’ is a dating matching app. Rinka, who works at a wedding hall, reluctantly joins the app and finds herself entangled in a troubling situation. After exchanging messages and meeting once with a man named Tomu, the police show up, a murder occurs nearby, and Rinka discovers hidden family secrets, causing her life to spiral downward. UCHIDA Eiji, well-known in Korea for The Naked Director, directed and wrote Matched. His direction bursts the bubble of the happy image of married life from the start, hinting at the ominous events and extraordinary imagery to follow. Initially thought to be a serial killing targeting happy marriages, it is revealed to be a targeted crime against Rinka and her family. Just when it seems the culprit is caught, another perpetrator emerges, and the story circles back to the beginning, showcasing Uchida Eiji’s skill in mastering genre-specific storytelling with each project he undertakes. (HUH Namwoong)

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Pig That Survived Foot-and-Mouth Disease by Hur Bum-wook – Korea | 2024 – 105 minutes | Asian Premiere

A pig buried alive in a pit due to a deadly epidemic and a soldier who suffered constant violence from his superiors run away to the mountains. In the place where the half-human pig and the half-animal human are hiding, there are a herd of starving wild boars desperately looking for a way to survive, and a frustrated human looking for a place to end his own life hanging from every tree branch. Following the powerful opening scene that denounces the merciless violence caused by humans, what the audience faces is a repetition of bottomless despair and angry cries. The forest, which looks beautiful at first glance when warm light shines on it, seems to be a refuge for beings that are neither fully human nor animal, and at the same time a trap that cannot be escaped. In HUR Bum-wook’s cruel world, the pig’s wish to become a perfect human is futile. Amidst the bloodshed on mutilated bodies and the push towards psychological extremes, there are rare moments of relief. Whether human or beast, there is still a glimmer of hope. (LEE Kyunghwa)

Pull Up by Mok Chung Hun – Korea | 2023 – 61 minutes | World Premiere

During the unexpected upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seokju(Sohn Suhyun), struggling to make ends meet, takes on a part-time job editing online lecturers’ mistakes. However, she cannot completely ignore the societal pressure of appearing “too feminist” if she edits ‘too correctly.’ While doing her job sufficiently, she stumbles upon the skillful paper-folding videos of Maengji(Song Ye-eun) and starts editing them. They quickly become close friends as they communicate well and work out together. In these times of crisis, when people had to adopt new ways of living to survive, their unintentionally exposed antics draw attention. Despite the absurdity, moments of joy and meaning still emerge in various relationships. The film turns the potentially clichéd narrative of societal disaster into a unique and individual story. The film serves as a light guide to friendship and relationships, illustrating how humans can survive amidst great despair and crisis. (PARK Got)

Suffocating Love by Liao Ming Yi – Japan | 2024 – 102 minutes | International Premiere

Having Liao Ming Yi’s debut feature, I WeirDo in the year of 2020 could be seen as both a stroke of luck and a misfortune for the film. A romance between two individuals with OCD, armed with masks, would undoubtedly be more intriguing than any other film at the height of pandemic. However, the pandemic itself might have become the black hole that consumed this movie; after all, everything was blamed on the virus. The man, struggling with his lover’s obsession with cleanliness and control, dreams his way into a new relationship overnight but can’t fully enjoy this new romance. With OCD, 100% iPhone shooting, and Austin Lin-Nikki Hsieh duo, Liao Ming Yi’s second film, Suffocating Love, naturally recalls its predecessor. But now that the shadow of the pandemic has lifted, it seems that OCD no longer belongs to weirdos only but has become an inescapable condition of life for all of us who desire relationships and contact while fearing wounds and isolation. Romance, then, appears to be a grand fantasy we long for but ultimately cannot attain. (Jin PARK)

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Tatsumi by Shoji Hiroshi – Japan | 2023 – 109 minutes | International Premiere

Tatsumi, a corpse cleaner for the yakuza, discovers that Aoi, the younger sister of his ex-girlfriend Kiyoko, has stolen drugs from the yakuza. At Kiyoko’s request, Tatsumi hides Aoi’s theft. However, the yakuza believe Kiyoko’s husband is the thief and kill him. Tatsumi and Aoi accidentally witness the murder and manage to save Kiyoko, but she eventually dies. Stricken by the death of Kiyoko, who was a special person to both of them, Aoi resolves to seek revenge, and Tatsumi stays by her side.

Through these sudden events, Tatsumi begins to reflect on himself. As he spends time with the unruly and reckless Aoi, he starts to change. Aoi, too, grows up, leaving her immature days behind. The depiction of the protagonists’ growth, despite following a plot of tragic revenge, is the most striking aspect of this work. The compelling and solid performances of the actors, combined with the direction of Shoji Hiroshi, who was previously invited to BIFAN with his debut film Ken and Kazu (2016), make this new work noteworthy. (Martin LEE)

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The Shrine by Kumakiri Kazuyoshi – Korea | 2024 – 95 minutes | World Premiere

In an abandoned village in Kobe, Japan, university students gather for an international exchange to prepare an exhibition. One day, a student who went on a survey trip to the ruined shrine goes missing, and a series of strange and horrifying events occur. The manager, Yu-mi, seeks help from her former university senior, Myung-jin, from whom she had distanced herself due to past issues. Myung-jin, who reluctantly became a shaman capable of hearing voices, encounters a bizarre and cruel entity at the site. The old Japanese tale describes mysterious disappearances as the work of gods or spirits, calling it ‘kamikakushi,’ meaning ‘spirit away.’ Were Yu-mi’s colleagues, who either vanished or met with brutal fates, truly called by the gods? If so, why did the gods conceal them in such a horrific manner? Or was it even a god at all? This is Kumakiri Kazuyoshi’s first Korean film and an occult movie. The cast includes Kim Jae Joong, who portrays a shaman and dark hero chasing after the desires and taboos hidden in the depths of the human psyche while harboring inner darkness, and Kong Seong Ha, whose multidimensional acting heightens the tension of the film, along with Ko Yoon-joon, and Kino Hana, who is familiar to Korean audiences from Moonlit Winter (2019), all deliver outstanding performances that should not be missed. (MO Eun-young)

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The Tenants by Yoon Eunkyoung – Korea | 2023 – 89 minutes | Korean Premiere

Seoul is no longer a city in pursuit of happiness. At least, not in the future depicted in this film. There, the protagonist KIM Shin-dong coughs endlessly as he struggles to survive. The Tenants unfolds this landscape in black and white, adding vital imagination to the present-day Seoul. This effective strategy not only creates a unique atmosphere for the film but also serves as a mirror reflecting how our current reality closely resembles a bleak future. To avoid being evicted from his rental home, Shin-dong sublets the bathroom. This so-called ‘sub-sublease’ leads to a tense and stressful situation as people with conflicting interests are crammed into a small space. The film resolves this tension through a labyrinthine mystery and a heavy twist, characteristic of director YOON Eunkyoung. People push others into increasingly narrow and dark corners to avoid being displaced from their own positions. The film’s ending, where one faces the harsh reality in a secluded corner, may reveal the eerie true face of the city we live in. (Rhana JANG)

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You Will Die in 6 Hours by Lee Yun-seok – Korea | 2024 – 91 minutes | World Premiere

The title says it all. While walking down the street, Jung-yoon hears from a stranger, Joon-woo, “You will die in six hours.” Joon-woo claims that the moment he saw Jung-yoon, he could see her death. Torn between doubt and unease, Jung-yoon spends the remaining six hours with Joon-woo. As they continue their journey together, it becomes clear that Joon-woo’s foresight is not limited to Jung-yoon but is part of a series of unfolding events. As new aspects of Jung-yoon, Joon-woo, and Detective Ki-hoon, who is chasing the case, are revealed like turning over cards, the audience must deduce whether to trust Joon-woo and who the culprit of the case is. The film shifts direction sharply, passing the arrow of suspicion from one character to another as if handing over a relay baton. Will Joon-woo’s premonition come true, or can death be prevented? The tension remains high until the very last moment. (Rhana JANG)

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For this festival we also selected 20 short films you can read the articles here: Part 1 and Part 2

For more information, please visit: https://www.bifan.kr/eng/