We continue with our list of films that you shouldn’t miss at the 24th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, which is taking place from July 9th – 16th, 2020 in Bucheon, South Korea.

About the festival:
The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) aims to consolidate its identity as a ‘Fantastic Film Festival’ through Fantastic-Genre films and to provide a new and diverse aspects toward Genre film. BIFAN also encourages the understanding of different cultures through the art of fantastic films and facilitates exchange of ideas among film industry professionals from all around the world and those from Korea. Furthermore, the Festival promotes including but not limited to the production and distribution of fantastic films.

Selected Films:

Not Quite Dead Yet by Hamasaki Shinji – Japan | 2020 – 93 minutes
Section: World Fantastic Blue

Death metal band vocalist, Nobata Nanase(played by Suzu Hirose), hates her father (played by Shinich Tsutsumi). As a pharmaceutical CEO, he was too busy developing new drugs to attend her mother’s deathbed, so Nanase is inspired to sing lyrics such as “Die! Die!” One day, her father suddenly dies while working on an elixir of life, and an employee, Matsuoka (played by Ryo Yoshizawa), who is virtually invisible within the company, is the only person who knows the truth of his death. Can miracles happen? (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 12th, 2020 – Sunday | CGV Sopung 9 | 20:00 pm
July 15th, 2020 – Wednesday | CGV Sopung 9 | 17:00 pm

Trailer:

Sheep without a Shepherd by Sam Quah – China | 2019 – 112 minutes
Section: Bucheon Choise – Feature

Entrepreneur Lie Weijie (Xiao Yang) is a movie enthusiast, working with his wife A yu (Tan Zhuo) in Thailand for 17 years. He has a happy family along with two daughters. Ping Ping, the eldest daughter, while on a school trip is sexually assaulted by the son of a powerful man. A Yu and Ping Ping accidentally kill the perpetrator who was following and threatening them. Lie Weijie plans to protect his family by using lessons he learned from the movies he watched by hiding the corpse. Is it really possible to cover up crime from a man who has seen too many movies? (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 12th, 2020 – Sunday | CGV Sopung 10 | 14:00 pm
July 14th, 2020 – Tuesday | CGV Sopung 10 | 17:00 pm

Trailer:

Signal 100 by Takeba Risa – Japan | 2020 – 88 minutes
Section: World Fantastic Red

As a school festival is about to begin, high school teacher Shimobe shows a group of 36 students a video at the AV room. The grotesque and depressing contents of the video lead to the suicide of a student and confusion among the rest of the group. Shimobe then reveals he has hypnotized them to commit suicide following certain signals in the video. Chaos erupts as the students realize there are more than 100 signals and only one student can survive and be released from the spell, but on the condition that the rest of the group dies. (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 11th, 2020 – Saturday | CGV Sopung 5 | 19:30 pm
July 16th, 2020 – Thursday | CGV Sopung 10 | 17:00 pm

Trailer:

Special Actors by Ueda Shinichiro – Japan | 2019 – 119 minutes
Section: World Fantastic Blue

“Do you need a fake boyfriend? Do you want many visitors at the funeral?”
Kazuto, an aspiring actor who faints when he is nervous due to childhood trauma. One day, he met his brother who he hadn’t spoken with for a few years. He suggests that Kazuto join Special Actors, a company that helps overcome their client’s traumas by acting out customized scenarios. He meets a client who asks to rescue her sister who has joined a UFO cult. Kazuto falls in love with her at first sight. Will he be able to safely finish his performance and get her to fall in love with him? (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 12th, 2020 – Sunday | CGV Sopung 5 | 13:30 pm
July 15th, 2020 – Wednesday | CGV Sopung 9 | 11:00 am

Trailer:

Taro the Fool by Omori Tatsushi – Japan | 2019 – 119 minutes
Section: Bucheon Choise – Features

Taro (Yoshi) has no family registration and has never been to school. Neglected by his single mother, he spends his time idling on waste ground. ‘Taro’ refers to someone who is nameless. High school students, Eiji (Masaki Suda) and Sugio (Taiga Nakano) are his playmates who enjoy risky, perilous freedom and deviation. One day Eiji gets caught in a fight and gets hold of a gun. (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 11th, 2020 – Saturday | CGV Sopung 10 | 20:00 pm
July 15th, 2020 – Wednesday | CGV Sopung 4 | 16:30 pm

Trailer:

The Fable by Eguchi Kan – Japan | 2019 – 123 minutes
Section: World Fantastic Red

Alegendary assassin, Fable (Junichi Okada), is able to do his job well. The man who raised Fable orders him to stop murdering for a year and live a normal life in Osaka under the name of Sato Akira. Ebihara, a Yakuza from Osaka, who now takes care of Fable, becomes nervous when his unpredictable trouble maker brother, Kojima (Yuya Yagira), escapes from jail. Fable who adapts to ordinary life now has people who he wants to protect and must once again fight. (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 11th, 2020 – Saturday | CGV Sopung 9 | 20:00 pm
July 13th, 2020 – Monday | CGV Sopung 9 | 20:00 pm

Trailer:

The Interviewees by Hwang Seungjae – South Korea | 2020 – 83 minutes
Section: Korean Fantastic – Features

In the near future, 2220, the Seoul landscape of appears no different from how it is now, but in 200 years’ time, the government will be creating synthetic humans, or clones, to maintain a healthy life for its people. Artificial bodies are used in industry and for public work until they are required for their original purpose and humans must pay monthly health insurance premiums for the service. (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 13th, 2020 – Monday | CGV Sopung 2 | 16:30 pm
July 15th, 2020 – Wednesday | CGV Sopung 10 | 20:00 pm

The Therapist: Fist of Tae baek by Sam Choi – South Korea | 2020 – 107 minutes
Section: Korean Fantastic – Competition

Seongjoon is training with his mentor Jinsu in order to win a Taebaekwon contest. The night before the final round of the competition, Seoungjoon returns to find Jinsu who has suddenly disappeared. Seoungjoon meets Bomi by chance there and they unexpectedly get married. He opens a finger-pressure treatment clinic to make a living using Taebaekwon, which he has practiced his whole life. As he makes full use of his talent, his clinic goes viral, but this business and his family are soon put in jeopardy by loan sharks and redevelopment groups. (BIFAN 2020)

Schedule:
July 12th, 2020 – Sunday | CGV Sopung 10 | 17:00 pm
July 15th, 2020 – Wednesday | CGV Sopung 10 | 11:00 am

Where Your Eyes Linger by Hwang Daseul – South Korea | 2020 – 85 minutes
Section: Korean Fantastic – Features

Han Taeju and Kang Guk are high school students; they have been inseparable for 15 years. Officially they are just friends, but in reality, Guk is the bodyguard of Taeju, the heir of the chaebol family. However, they feel a different kind of emotion for each other. Perhaps the feeling of friendship beyond friendship that has been going on for a long time. What does Guk mean to TaeJu and TaeJu to Guk? Where Your Eyes Linger, which stood for the first BL show in Korea, faithfully carries out the laws of the genre, from establishing the relationship of the protagonists to the structure of the surrounding characters, the development of events, and the process of exchange and change of subtle emotions between boys. The film breaks straight through the genre of BL show, which has been bypassed in various ways. The actors Han Gichan and Jang Euisoo, who played Taeju and Guk, also show their fresh and sincere acting. The absence of unique personality actors make this film out of the ordinary. It is a movie version of a show released in an eight-part series with the enthusiastic support of genre fans through BIFAN. (MO Eun-young)

Schedule:
July 10th, 2020 – Friday | CGV Sopung 9 | 20:00 pm
July 14th, 2020 – Tuesday | CGV Sopung 8 | 14:00 pm

Trailer:

Zombie Crush in Heyri by Chang Hyunsang – South Korea | 2020 – 120 minutes
Section: Korean Fantastic – Competition

Director Chang Hyunsang’s new film Zombie Crush in Heyri tells the story of the three women friends struggling to protect a village from the turmoil caused by the sudden appearance of zombies. In the peaceful Heyri Art Village in Paju, three friends: Jinseon, Hyunah and Gayeon, meet at the opening of the Heyri Art Center and, with a beginner Youtuber and a coffee factory CEO, face the zombie crisis.

Schedule:
July 12th, 2020 – Sunday | CGV Sopung 5 | 16:30 pm
July 14th, 2020 – Tuesday | CGV Sopung 4 | 10:30 am

To see the first part of this article please go HERE: FIRST PART

For more information about the festival and the programme please go to the official website: HERE