Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival

Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
Location	Bucheon, South Korea
Founded	1997
Language	Korean English
Website	bifan.kr

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Hangul: 부천국제판타스틱영화제), or BiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea. Prior to 2015, the film festival was known as the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan.^[1]

Inaugurated in 1997, the festival focuses on South Korean and international horror, thriller, mystery and fantasy films, with particular attention to Asian cinema, mainly films from East Asia and Southeast Asia.

The 11th edition of BiFan, held from 12 to 24 July 2007, featured 225 films from 33 countries.

The 12th edition of BiFan was held between 18 and 27 July 2008.

Program

The festival's programming consists of eight sections:

Bucheon Choice
World Fantastic Cinema
Fantastic Short Films
Forbidden Zone
Family Fanta
Ani-Fanta
Special Programs
Retrospectives

Awards

The festival is non-competitive, except for the Bucheon Choice section, in which the "Golden Kebbi" is bestowed on the "Best of Bucheon" film.

Boycott

The festival faced a boycott in 2005 to protest what was seen by critics as meddling by Bucheon mayor Hong Geon-pyo. A rival event called RealFanta was organized that year on the same dates as BiFan by former festival director Kim Hong-joon. The festival returned in 2006 without any dispute under the direction of veteran filmmaker Lee Jang-ho and a new programming team.^[2]