Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s in-person events return after two years

Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival on Friday announced that it will hold in-person events at the festival year, slated to take place from July 7 to 17.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fest had been holding opening and closing ceremonies, as well as a red carpet event at various locations in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, such as Bucheon City Hall and Bucheon Gymnasium.

During the last two years, the fest had been downsized with all in-person events without audiences, and the opening and closing ceremonies held with only a limited number of guests. Films were also screened with only 30 to 35 percent of seats open for sale in theaters.

The organizer added that more details about this year‘s festival will be disclosed on Tuesday.

The organizer highlighted that even with the return of in-person events, it will continue the online screenings that it had been doing during the last two years.

“Although we experienced difficulties during the last two years due to COVID-19, we also saw potential in holding BIFAN as a hybrid event,” the BIFAN organizer said in a statement.

According to the fest organizer, over 20,000 viewers watched the festival’s films via streaming platforms on average.

Inaugurated in 1997, the BIFAN is held annually in July and mainly focuses on Korean and international horror, thriller, mystery and fantasy films. According to BIFAN, a total of 257 films from 47 countries were screened during the fest in 2021, and 230,000 audience members took part in the event via online and offline channels.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)