PiFan 2012

On Thursday, 19th of July the opening ceremony of the Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) got underway in glamorous style.

Luckily the torrential rain held off for the red carpet event, which saw an interesting mixture of  up-and-coming stars like PiFan Lady Park Ha-seon, and A-listers, such as Ha Ji-won, Ahn Seong-gi and Ha Jeong-woo. All the stars in attendance looked stunning in their various gowns and suits, making fans squeal with delight. Having been to the film festivals in both Busan and Jeonju, I was unsure of how Bucheon would carve out a unique identity against such heavyweights, and it interestingly seems to occupy somewhat of a middle ground between the two – lavish, but not to the extremes of Busan, and intimate, though not in the independent manner of Jeonju.

PiFan Lady Park Ha-seon (박하선)

Ahn Seong-gi (안성기)

Ha Ji-won (하지원)

Ha Jeong-woo (하정우)

After posing for cameras and conducting brief interviews, the stars all entered the Bucheon Gymnasium for a spectacular show and an awards ceremony, which was then followed by the premiere of Horror Stories (무서운 이야기). The film is highly appropriate given that the festival focuses on genre films, and generally seemed to go down well with the audience. Horror Stories (무서운 이야기) is an interesting take on the horror genre as four different directors have amalgamated their work into a coherent whole, as a young girl must tell horror stories to her kidnapper in a desperate attempt to save her life.

The PiFan awards ceremony and screening of ‘Horror Stories’

After the screening there was a special dinner event for celebrities and press, where I was fortunate enough to (briefly) share a table and some makkoli with director Kim Han-min and Japanese actor Ryohei Otani, who were a delight. Still hot from their success on Arrow, the Ultimate Weapon (최종병기 활), they informed me that their new film, based on famed Admiral Yi-Sun-shin, was due to start filming this winter and will certainly be one to watch out for upon release.

For the full photo gallery, please visit the official facebook page here.