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BiFan Opens 20th Edition in Style
Stars Grace the Red Carpet at Bucheon City Hall
The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) put on a big show for the opening of its 20th edition on Thursday, July 21st. After using the Bucheon Gymnasium for many years, this summer’s BiFan moved the ceremony to the Grass Square located outside Bucheon City Hall.
Hosting this year’s event were PARK Sung-woong, the actor known for his roles in New World (2013) and Office (2015), and model Stephanie LEE. 3,000 guests took part, including representatives such as KIM Man-soo, the Honorary Chairperson and mayor of Bucheon City, CHUNG Ji-young, the Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, and Festival Director CHOI Yong-bae.
Celebrity guests included actors AHN Sung-ki, KONG Hyung-jin and SHIM Eun-jin, as well as KANG Ye-won and LEE Sang-yun, the stars of INSANE, which is screening at the festival, and jury members CHANG Mi-hee and JUNG Jin-young. Also present were local directors such as IM Kwon-taek, LEE Joon-ik, NA Hong-jin and CHOI Dong-hoon, as well as Busan International Film Festival chairman KIM Dong-ho and Organization Committee co-director KANG Soo-yeon and Cannes Film Festival deputy general delegate Christian Jeune.
During the evening an Achievement Award ceremony was staged to honour the work and achievements of former organizers of the festival. Among the awardees were BiFan’s first chairperson LEE Hye-sun, LEE Jang-ho, the first festival director, and KIM Hong-joon, BiFan’s first programmer and also a former festival director.
The opening ceremony was followed by the Asian premiere of Matt Reeves’ Captain Fantastic, with Viggo Mortensen, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. BiFan will take place in Bucheon until July 31st, screening 320 films from 49 countries along the way.
