The 15th edition of Pifan, which ends this weekend in Bucheon near Seoul, is one of my favorite film festivals ever. First off, it’s a genre film festival and showcases about 200 horror, sci-fi, suspense, thrillers, anime and other genre works from around the world. Secondly, it’s located in Bucheon, the sin city of South Korea. I wrote about my last visit in 2009, and the heart of the Festival is located in the Red Light district, filled with late night pubs, bbq restaurants, hostess bars, and love hotels. It’s truly an experience, especially when you’re congregating with genre filmmakers and boozing it up every night. The atmosphere is perfect for a genre film festival; Walking along the neon-lit streets alongside drunken and staggering salarymen and room salon girls heading to work is something out of an old ’70s gangster movie. It is so nonchalant here, that the usual karaoke bar that everyone congregates at 1am is next door to a massage parlor and a church!

HKIFF Executive Director Roger Garcia saying some words, representing this year's Pifan Jury. Next to Garcia is Festival Director Kim Young-bin

This year, I participated in the Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) Project Market, where 18 projects were selected and meetings set up with industry professionals including financiers, producers and distribution companies. I had scheduled several meetings with projects that peaked my interest and it’s great to see genre projects from all over Asia, vying for financing and support. NAFF is clearly on the cutting edge of other film project markets, because genre films tend to be the only game in town, when it comes to generating foreign sales. NAFF serves as a hub of Asian genre, and this specific niche is smart to pursue. US and Europe should take note and although this project market is only 4 years old, several participating projects from previous editions have been completed. This year alone, there were 3 NAFF projects that were completed and premiered at Pifan.

A few projects from this year really caught my eye, and coincidentally, they were award winners too. Joko Anwar, the venerable Indonesian filmmaker and overall Renaissance Man (he is also one of the most influential people on Twitter) won the Bucheon Award ($9,500) for his slasher flick, MODUS ANOMALI. If you can, check out his previous films, KALA and THE FORBIDDEN DOOR. Another project that I liked, also was awarded, this time with the NAFF Award, worth $4,800. Called WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE GUY STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR, this Kafka-esque Korean project from writer-director Josh Kim, was helped by a solid presentation and pitch from Kim.

The team behind NAFF Project TWO RABBITS IN OSAKA

Thirdly, I really liked TWO RABBITS IN OSAKA from Korean director Lim Tai-hyung and loosely based on Watership Down. The circumstances behind this art film are almost fateful. Planned to feature only two actors, and to be shot improvisation style over one day in Osaka, the production started one day after the Japan Earthquake in March. The director said it was an eerie feeling and everyone was shaken, which led to a new direction and ominous atmosphere that translated on screen. The film won the KOFIC (Korean Film Council) Post-production grant worth $48,000 in in-kind services, enough for Lim to complete his film.

Unfortunately, coming out empty-handed with awards, American filmmaker Ted Chung’s ID, is another project that I really connected with, partly because Chung’s presentation was probably the best of them all with a 10 minute short film starring HAWAII FIVE-O’s Brian Yang. I also featured one of Chung’s short films in a previous Short Film Spotlight. His take on an everyman thrown into a labyrinthine world of alternate realities was intriguing and I’m looking forward to this project reaching fruition. Good luck to them all!

The PIFAN Team!

Kudos goes to Thomas Nam, the program manager for NAFF, worked tirelessly to keep us all entertained and busy, and as always, he did an exceptional job. In addition, the Festival portion was injected with some energy as well, helmed by programmers Jin Park and newly hired film journalist and researcher Yi Young-jae, with some interesting and really eclectic films, especially world premieres from Korea. Here are a couple of film highlights:

RINGING IN THEIR EARS:

Directed by Yu Irie, one of the most exciting film voices working in Japan today, this unique take on the concert film totally blew me away. A week before the concert of the red-hot rock band Shinsei Kamattechan (a real rock band) the lives of various people connected in some way to the concert are affected. These people include Kaori, a pole dancer & a single mother. Her son causes problems by watching the band’s videos play There’s also Michiko, a high school girl torn between pursuing shogi (Japanese chess) and fitting in with her classmates. The joy of this film is incorporating the real manager of Shinsei Kamattechan as a character in the film. He is called into a meeting by the higher brass of the record company to try to convince the band to go to a more “mainstream” route by turning one of their songs into a youth anthem for hikikomori, has him squirming and conflicted, which results in some very funny scenes.

BULLHEAD:

BULLHEAD, from Belgian director Michael R. Roskam, debuted at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, but I was able to finally catch it at Pifan. I’m glad I did because it’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year. It tells the story of the young Limburg cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille who is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West-Flemish beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky’s past, sets in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences. This is one gripping film.

BOLLYWOOD THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD: The title says it all. A bold choice to open this year’s Pifan, with Bollywood films mostly untested in Korea, this dazzling remix timeline of Bollywood cinema wowed the 5,000 in attendance for the Opening Night presentation! Because of the rousing reception, there are already plans for some Bollywood films to be released theatrically in South Korea.

BLOODY FIGHT IN IRON-ROCK VALLEY:

This is one of over a half dozen Korean world premieres presented at the Festival. Following the classic American western trope of a lone man coming into a depressed town to exact revenge, this low budget effort is commendable, especially since the writer-director, Ji Ha-jean, was a one man camera crew. Chul ki, fresh out of prison, begins his blood0-drenched journey for revenge by killing a police officer and junkyard owner. He carries a small ballerina music box with old memories. Chul ki leaves for Kang won Province in order to find the remaining two people in his memos, Ghostface and Axe.

With the deft leadership of Festival director Kim Young-bin, Pifan has become a destination film festival in Asia, while still retaining its “off the beaten path” feel and charms. I surely hope it stays this way and doesn’t get too big for its bridges. Pifan is both charming and crazy, and full of eclectic characters and situations. Director Kim, for example, was pulling double duty this year. Aside from running the Festival, he was also directing a movie at the same time, an indie feature set in Bucheon about a young female festival volunteer who falls in love with the Mayor’s assistant, with Pifan as the backdrop! There were cameras (well hidden) shooting at various festival events, with the actors plugged into the real action. How crazy is that? Hey, I want to be credited in the cast! Maybe it’ll premiere in next year’s fest…..

Here’s one last shot from late-night Bucheon randomness, a well-dressed parking attendant in a little booth straight out of Bladerunner. Truly fantastic!