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PELICAN BLOOD Picks Up Best of Bucheon Prize at 24th BiFan

FESTIVAL Triumphs with 4 Gongs in Bucheon

The 24th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), which was staged as a hybrid online and offline event this year, wound to a close after eight days with its awards ceremony and closing film presentation at the CGV Sopoong in Bucheon on the evening of Thursday, July 16. Katrin GEBBE’s German production Pelican Blood picked up the Best of Bucheon prize in the Bucheon Choice competition, which also meant that it served as this year’s closing film.

Elsewhere in the Bucheon Choice competition, Rose GLASS’ UK horror Saint Maude earned the Best Director Award while the Jury’s Choice prize went to Noah HUTTON’s Lapsis from the United States. The Audience Award was picked up by Sam QUAH’s Chinese film Sheep Without a Shepherd.

Picking up the Techcross Environmental Services Best Korean Fantastic Film prize was KIM Lok-kyoung’s debut Festival. The well-regarded film picked up a total of four prizes in Bucheon, including Best Actor for lead HA Jun, as well the Audience Award in the Korean Fantastic Features section and one of four Distribution Awards.

SEO Eun-young’s sophomore feature Go Back (2019) was another Distribution Award winner, while lead PARK Ha-seon picked up the Best Actress accolade. For Best Actress, the jury also reserved a special mention for GONG Min-jeong, LEE Min-ji and PARK So-jin, the three leads of Zombie Crush in Heyri from JANG Hyun-sang, who picked up the Best Director Award. JANG’s film also took home a Distribution Award, as did director BACK Seung-kee’s Super Nova.

The WATCHA Award, sponsored by the streaming company which serviced the online BiFan showcase for this year’s hybrid edition, went to CHOI Eun-jong’s There Is an Alien Here (2019). The NETPAC Award went to LIAO Mingyi’s I WeirDo from Taiwan, with a special mention going to YAMAMOTO Tatsuya’s Nosari: Impermanent Eternity from Japan. The Melies International Festivals Federation (MIFF) Award for Best Asian Film went to the Indonesian work Impetigore from Joko ANWAR.

In the Bucheon Choice: Shorts section, Pouya AMINPOURI’s The Third Person from Iran won Best Short Film, with the Jury’s Choice prize going to the Spanish film The Arctic Syndrome from Borja ECHEVERRIA LAMATA and the Audience Award going to LEE Gwan-ju’s local film The Creature. Neal DHAND’s The Well from the Czech Republic received a Special Mention.

For Korean Fantastic: Shorts, both the Best Korean Short film and Audience Award went to HONG Seong-yoon’s Digital Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro: The Real-World Guide to Set Up and Workflow. Finally, WATCHA’s Pick for Short Film went to WANG Hee-song’s Blood Ties.