The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) has appointed a new festival director. Taking the reins will be SHIN Chul, a pioneer figure in the Korean film industry who has been overseeing the production of films since the late 1980s. SHIN will step into the role for three years starting this September.

Following positions in the film production and development fields, SHIN founded his company ShinCine Communications in 1988, an outfit that was responsible for many important Korean projects over the subsequent decades. These have included PARK Kwang-su’s Berlin Report (1991), the first ‘planned film’ Marriage Story (1992), KANG Je-kyu’s period fantasy hit The Gingko Bed (1996), KIM Yoo-jin’s melodrama success A Promise (1998) and KWAK Jae-yong’s pan-Asian rom-com smash My Sassy Girl (2001). More recently, SHIN took on the role of adjunct professor at the Korean National University of Arts.

SHIN takes over from fellow film producer CHOI Yong-bae as BIFAN’s eighth Festival Director. Meanwhile, BIFAN Chairman CHUNG Ji-young, a major Korean filmmaker who was SHIN’s contemporary, has seen his contract extended by one year, in order to ensure that BIFAN did not need to switch the festival director and chairman positions during the same year in future.

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival staged its 22nd edition this summer and will return with its 23rd in July 2019.