6 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Bucheon International Animation Festival

By Asian Film Festival on October 15, 2021 • ( 1 Comment )

These are six films you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Bucheon International Animation Festival which will take place from October 22nd – 26th, 2021 in Bucheon, Korea.

– Recommended Films –

**A Silent Voice** by Yamada Naoko – Japan | 2016 – 130 minutes

Ishida Shoya hates being bored. He doesn’t care who Gandhi was or how humankind has progressed. A new girl is transferred to his school. Her name is Nishimiya Shouko, and she has a hearing impairment. The boy teases her rudely, but she just smiles. Her response annoys him even more. Due to all the bullying, she eventually transfers to another school, and the boy is left alone. Six years later, Shoya, who has found no meaning in life, decides to visit Shoko one last time. Finally, they hold their first real conversation. The reunion slowly changes the classroom, the school, Shoya’s life, and Shoko’s life (BIAF 2021).

Screening Date:
October 23rd, 2021 | Saturday | CGV Bucheon 5 | 17:30 pm

Trailer:

**City of lost things** by Yee Chihyen – Taiwan | 2020 – 90 minutes

As a 16-year-old struggling teenager, Leaf runs away from home, skips classes and ends up, mysteriously, in a peculiar place, City of Lost Things. There he meets Baggy, a 30-year-old plastic bag. Baggy never sees himself as just another piece of unwanted junk. He has a purpose in his life, that is, to lead his tribe to flee City of Lost Things. But he needs the help of a reluctant Leaf to fight the dreadful army of the Armors (BIAF 2021).

Trailer:

**Climbing** by Kim Hyemi – South Korea | 2020 – 77 minutes

Professional climber CHOI Se-hyeon finds out about her pregnancy discovers that she is pregnant just before the Climbing World Championships. For As her long-time aspirations as a climberare threatened, she struggles to break free from her baby but the baby won’t let her gothe duties of motherhood, but finds that doing so is far from easy (BIAF 2021).

Screening Date:
Octobe 26th, 2021 | Tuesday | CGV Bucheon 3 | 14:00 pm

Trailer:

**Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko** by Watanabe Ayumu – Japan | 2021 – 96 minutes

“Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko” is the heartwarming and moving comedy drama of an unconventional family – a not-so-ordinary mother-and-daughter pair who live their lives to the fullest. Easy-going, cheerful, passionate and always ready to eat something delicious, mother Nikuko falls hard for the bad guys. Her happy motto: “Ordinary is best of all!” Naturally Nikuko’s loud and bold spirit embarrasses 11-year-old Kikuko, her daughter on the verge of puberty. With nothing in common except living together on a boat at the port, a miracle occurs when their secret is revealed (BIAF).

Trailer:

**Inu-oh** by Yuasa Masaaki – Japan, China | 2021 – 98 minutes

Inu-oh is born with unique physical characterisctics, and the horrified adults cover every inch of his body with garments, including a mask on his face. One day, he meets a boy named Tomona, a blind biwa player, and as Tomona plays a delicate song of tangled fate, Inu-oh discovers an incredible ability to dance. Inu-oh and Tomona become business partners and inseparable friends, using their creative gifts to survive on the margins of society, as song after song gain them notoriety and propel them to stardom. Through the songs, Inu-oh mesmerizes his audiences on stage, and gradually begins to transform into someone of unequaled beauty. But why is Tomona blind? Why was Inu-oh born with unique characteristics? It is a story about the friendship of Inu-oh and Tomona, who dance and sing to get to the truth and break each other’s curse (BIAF 2021).

Trailer:

**Millennium Actress** by Kon Satoshi – Japan | 2021 – 87 minutes

Chiyoko Fujiwara was a top-star actress, who suddenly quit at the height of her career. Genya Tachibana is a director who is seeking her out in order to produce a documentary on her life. (BIAF 2021)

Screening Date:
October 24th, 2021 | Sunday | CGV Bucheon 5 | 10:30 am

Trailer: