BIFAN 2024 (July 4-14)

<p>Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou&rsquo;s criminal family.</p> <p>Following her critically acclaimed first feature <em>Saint Maud</em>, Rose Glass makes her Sundance Film Festival debut with a bombastic, larger-than-life sophomore effort. An off-the-wall, rambunctious lesbian love story crashes into a family drama of the darkest ilk in this muscular thriller. As a small-town gym and a ravine just outside city limits become the playground for all flavors of mischief and mayhem, a heightened Americana sensibility and Glass&rsquo; deliciously distinctive, bold style create a world that is at once familiar and entirely fresh. Helmed by Sundance regular Kristen Stewart (<em>Speak</em>,<em> Adventureland</em>,<em> Certain Women</em>) and Katy O&rsquo;Brian, <em>Love Lies Bleeding</em> is somehow as sweetly romantic about loyalty as it is doggedly hedonistic. With a vaulting imagination and its roots in deeply human places, this film packs a gut punch unlike any other.&mdash;AH</p>

<p>Follows troubled youth Chan Lok-kwun as he accidentally enters the Walled City, discovers the order amidst its chaos, and learns important life lessons along the way.</p>

<p>Chased by a mysterious woman, 17-year-old Gretchen, who just moved with her family to an alpine resort after her mother&rsquo;s death, must uncover a conspiracy to save herself and her sister.</p>

<p>On a hot summer day in Oslo, the newly dead awaken. Three families faced with loss try to figure out what this resurrection means and if their loved ones really are back. Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist.</p> <p>Reuniting Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie (<em>The Worst Person in the World</em>, 2022 Sundance Film Festival), <em>Handling the Undead</em> is a visually expansive experience, full of arresting images and subtle performances that collapse the space between the living and the dead. Director Thea Hvistendahl&rsquo;s steady directorial hand leaves her characters room to breathe, to mediate the moral gray area, letting the minutiae of grief lead them as they feel their way through an extraordinary circumstance. Hvistendahl&rsquo;s interpretation of Lindqvist&rsquo;s novel addresses daunting questions about the body, the soul, loss, and moving on, pushing viewers to get to the root of reanimation: What would you do, and how would you feel, if someone you loved returned?&mdash;AE</p>

<p>In an Arizona diner, a traveling knife salesman sips coffee and does a crossword while waiting for gas. He notices suspicious men who are robbers. They must cooperate until the fuel truck arrives. As locals, including a gas station attendant, a rancher, and a deputy, gather, tensions rise. The salesman makes a fateful decision, blending western and heist thriller elements with tense standoffs and memorable double-crosses.</p>

<p>In this new supernatural spectacle from &quot;Caveat&#39;s&quot; Damian McCarthy, a blind medium uncovers the truth behind her sister&#39;s death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin.</p>

<p>After losing his parents, Respati moves in with his grandfather and must adapt to a new school and new friends. However, what truly torments him are nightmares that visit him every night. Respati realizes that these terrifying dreams are actually precognitive visions of real events, revealing that he is witnessing a series of brutal murders. Determined to prevent further tragedies, he begins to uncover the truth behind these events with his friends. Sidharta Tata&#39;s latest film, Respati, proves the power of Indonesian horrors, which is rapidly growing in the Asian genre film scene. Combining nightmare imagery, supernatural elements, serial killer with a coming-of-age adventure plot, Respati showcases a smart attempt to appeal to global audiences while maintaining the local traditions and imagery. Produced by Base Entertainment, which also produced Joko Anwar&#39;s Impetigore, it is the second Indonesian film that Parasite producer Barunson E&amp;A invested.</p>

<p>Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer&rsquo;s vicious murder spree. Beautifully shot on 35mm film, it features standout performances by Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. Strange Darling is dark, disturbing, and captivating as much.</p>

<p>Having Liao Ming-yi&rsquo;s debut feature, I WeirDo in the year of 2020 could be seen as both a stroke of luck and a misfortune for the film. A romance between two individuals with OCD, armed with masks, would undoubtedly be more intriguing than any other film at the height of pandemic. However, the pandemic itself might have become the black hole that consumed this movie; after all, everything was blamed on the virus. The man, struggling with his lover&#39;s obsession with cleanliness and control, dreams his way into a new relationship overnight but can&#39;t fully enjoy this new romance. With OCD, 100% iPhone shooting, and Austin Lin-Nikki Hsieh duo, Liao Ming-yi&rsquo;s second film, Suffocating Love, naturally recalls its predecessor. But now that the shadow of the pandemic has lifted, it seems that OCD no longer belongs to weirdos only but has become an inescapable condition of life for all of us who desire relationships and contact while fearing wounds and isolation. Romance, then, appears to be a grand fantasy we long for but ultimately cannot attain.</p>

<p>Tatsumi, a corpse cleaner for the yakuza, discovers that Aoi, the younger sister of his ex-girlfriend Kiyoko, has stolen drugs from the yakuza. At Kiyoko&#39;s request, Tatsumi hides Aoi&#39;s theft. However, the yakuza believe Kiyoko&#39;s husband is the thief and kill him. Tatsumi and Aoi accidentally witness the murder and manage to save Kiyoko, but she eventually dies. Stricken by the death of Kiyoko, who was a special person to both of them, Aoi resolves to seek revenge, and Tatsumi stays by her side.</p>

<p>Gr&eacute;goire is a building superintendent who takes care of his ailing foster mother. Every night, he transforms into a strange insect-like creature. He takes notice of a mother and daughter who have fled from the abusive husband. This short, which is a loose adaptation of Franz Kafka&#39;s short story The Metamorphosis, stylishly portrays the protagonist&#39;s repressed inner self, showing how he is treated as just another cog in the machine by everyone around him.</p>

<p>There is a saying that no one knows your body better than yourself. The protagonist, who believes she is pregnant with an alien&#39;s child, visits a gynecologist, but no one takes her seriously. In an attempt to prove her claims, she decides to reveal her boyfriend&#39;s significant (?) parts. This short film, presented as a farce, is rough around the edges but perfectly captures the essence of B-movie sensibilities.</p>

<p>How far can a person go to gain social recognition or achieve their dreams? A young journalist seeks out the great magician Kreskin to uncover his secrets. Following the narrative style of Interview With The Vampire, this short is a well-crafted mystery horror thriller that delves into the hidden truths behind success through the demon created by human desire.</p>

<p>Love can make you fall apart. In this stop-motion romance, a couple is forced to deal with their physical and emotional transformations.</p>

<p>People are always enthusiastic about new inventions. With the advent of cell phones, smartphones, and wireless earbuds, people might seek even more convenience. In this movie, a groundbreaking device emerges that can transmit sound directly to the brain. However, just before its release, this remarkable invention encounters a critical error. The nightmare it unleashes is all the more terrifying because it stems from humanity&#39;s inherent desire for more convenient technology.</p>

<p>A boy, labeled as a troublemaker, is taken by his mother to a strange temple. Contrary to his mother&#39;s hopes, the boy continues his unruly behavior. There, he meets a child referred to as the &quot;monster,&quot; who takes his mischievous actions in stride. Through this child&#39;s perspective, the boy learns the value of life. Following the child&#39;s gaze, one can feel that the teachings of nature resonate more deeply than any sermon.</p>

<p>When using websites, you often have to prove &quot;I&rsquo;m Not a Robot&quot; by ticking a checkbox. I&#39;ve never succeeded on the first try, which made me doubt if it&#39;s a true test of being human. The protagonist of this story also fails to pass the robot test and even receives a response suggesting there&#39;s a possibility she might be a robot. This short poses fundamental questions about the nature of humanity.</p>

<p>Dreadful and gory killings create panic in the queer community: a semen thirsty killer is on the loose and nobody is safe. In this humorous and provocative gem, Ion de Sosa creates an alternative present in which the surreal takes the lead to narrate yet another threat that the LGBTQIA+ community needs to face. Savvily playing with genres from noir through to sci-fi,&nbsp;<strong>Mam&aacute;ntula</strong>&nbsp;explores cinematic queerness at its most compelling.&nbsp;</p> <p><em>&ndash; Rebecca De Pas</em></p>

<p>Oz, an irresponsible man baby, nearly misses his girlfriend&rsquo;s Graduation because he&rsquo;s too busy playing with toys. Before he can make amends, a mysterious package arrives containing a mangy old hand puppet. Despite the pressing need to be there for his girlfriend, Oz can&rsquo;t resist trying on the puppet first and instantly has his soul imprisoned in its soft foam body. Oz is left to contemplate the sorry state of his life choices while his human body dies before his eyes. If he&rsquo;s to have any hope of saving his relationship, and surviving, he&rsquo;ll have to do the one thing he&rsquo;s always avoided: grow up.</p>

<p>Another delves into the chilling theme of identity and self-confrontation as a troubled young woman encounters her doppelg&auml;ngers after discovering a mysterious staircase linking multiple worlds. Leveraging AI technology like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and ComfyUI, the film&rsquo;s post-production brought a level of visual effects that small indie teams can now achieve, enhancing the eerie world-building and overall horror experience.</p>

<p>A philosophical and poetic narrative about human instincts, elephants and lions, the true king of the jungle. his film, whose script was written by a human, was created with visuals and narrator AI. Scenes were created with text-to-image AI modelling and then animated with image-to-video AI modelling. The narrator was created with text-to-voice AI modelling.</p>

<p>The film tells the story of a prompt-generated artificial intelligence versus a human creator. It was an experimental attempt to utilize AI throughout the entire filmmaking process, from pre-production to post-production. However, the human creator still played an important role in the core aspects of the film, such as the theme, storyline, and organization. We wanted to move away from fragmented AI films and create a movie with a coherent narrative, characters, and events, shot by shot.</p>

<p>Generation aims to overwhelm the viewer with sensory overload, representing the intensity of the human experience. The short film was meticulously hand-animated, and then fed into an AI image-to-image algorithm to refine the visuals. After that, it underwent further finessing by hand to achieve the desired effect.</p>

<p>The theme of this film is &ldquo;our responsibilities and hope for the future&rdquo;. Improvement Cycle was created by using generative AI technologies. Created images by Midjourney and then Runway Gen2 generated videos from these images. Music was also created by generative AI, Suno, and then lyrics generation was created by ChatGPT. ElevenLabs generated voices which include the narration for the trailer and dialogues.</p>

<p>The installation triptych &quot;Kiss/Crash&quot; employs AI-imagery to explore themes of desire and the expanding gap between real experience and artificial representations in the digital age. The interactive experience consists of three related works that use AI to augment, subvert, and negate the iconic image of the Hollywood kiss.</p> <p>Using a queer lens to appropriate a classic Hollywood aesthetic, the work places AI within the history of image-production technologies meant to incite and homogenize our desires. In the process, it reveals the nature of AI imagery and hints at how our most intimate desires will continue to be stretched and shaped by artificial representations at an accelerating pace.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Latex Kid&rdquo;, a rock star with latex skin, tries to survive in a decadent society. 100% of the images in this film are generated with Artificial Intelligence, specifically with Midjourney (Text to Image). The movement of each image has been generated with the generative AIs: Pika Labs and Runway Gen-2. The final upscaling to 4K was done using Topaz AI.</p>

<p>In Mic Mac at Cirque Du Freak, Kingston, a beloved circus snake, succumbs to a superiority complex, revealing his true nature in a hissy fit. Consumed by arrogance and blind to his faults, he slithers away, leaving behind a tale of isolation and self-delusion. This AI short film co-produced by Ethereal Gwirl and Le Moon, used AI tools for music by Suno, the images were generated using Midjourney. The animations were created with Runway and Pika Labs, while ElevenLabs provided narration and SFX effects. The final upscaling was done using Magnific AI.</p>

<p>One More Pumpkin is a mystery horror film that tells the secretive story of a Korean elderly couple who live over 200 years, exploring the theme of human greed. The bizarre and novel visuals, combining Western Halloween culture and Eastern imagery created through generative AI, offer audiences a fresh experience that only AI FILM can provide. It utilizes AI technologies such as T2I (Text-to-Image), I2V (Image-to-Video), and AI Super-Resolution.</p>

<p>On a winter night with heavy snowfall, Yuko lies soundly asleep beneath the snowy mountains. In the night of 1999, a blizzard blankets everything in pure white. Left behind, Soyo waits for Yuko, who will never return, amidst the snow piled upon her corpse. This story, which began with questions about loss and contemplation, starts from where words cease. Aside from the screenplay, various AI technologies were utilized in the production of this work.</p>

<p>In a dark baroque circus, a clown introduces himself as the king of human temptations. The show, interrupted only by the arrival of mysterious creatures, will be witnessed by unsuspecting spectators. An unprecedented battle for &quot;control&quot; will begin. &quot;Treta&quot; is considered as the third evolutionary age by ancient Indian scriptures, signifying the era when the mind begins to control matter towards a greater good.</p>

<p>Under the Sign of the Moon is an adaptation of Korean forktale &ldquo;Gyeonu and Jiknyeo&rdquo;. The film conveys the message that while the world may change, love will never change. Just like the moon, which is always waxing and waning. The entire film was created using AI. Runway and Firefly were used for the video, ChatGPT was used for the script, and ElevenLabs for the sound.</p>

<p>In a cityscape reminiscent of Asia, an auntie with a cat&#39;s face meets a cat with an auntie&#39;s face. They celebrate together until a neighbor complains about the noise. The cat&#39;s response, &ldquo;We are good!,&rdquo; signifies newfound unity. This AI film was created, animated, and edited by Niceaunties in the programmes Dalle3, Magnific.ai and Runwayml. The music was created in the AI programme suno.ai.</p>

<p>This short film is a visual tale that explores through the eyes of a child the whimsical and poignant question of where our grandmothers go when they &ldquo;get lost&rdquo; from our lives. As my first AI-driven short film, the creation process was both challenging and experimental. It began traditionally with writing the scenario and creating a storyboard to outline the narrative structure. Images were generated using MidJourney and refined in Photoshop. The animation was crafted in Runway and enhanced with After Effects. Despite the experimental workflow, I adhered to familiar techniques with classic editing and color grading. The voice-over, recorded by an actress, was synchronized with the animation, and a specially composed soundtrack added the final touch.</p>

<p>Created using 100% AI tools, You Are, Unfortunately, an AI Artist appears to be tongue-in-cheek commentary on the experience of being a contemporary AI artist. However, it is really just a sad meditation on the question, &ldquo;Who are we without our tools?&rdquo;</p>

<p>If the previous work, The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (2022), was clad in the skin of a monster movie, Base Station can be described as an SF black comedy. Eden believes that her younger brother Hyun-ho is suffering from &#39;electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome&#39; and flees to escape electromagnetic waves. However, even in the mountains, Hyunho&#39;s condition does not improve. They merely continue a life isolated from society. In PARK Syeyoung&#39;s films, something is always being transported. It could be second-hand trade goods (Cashback), live fish for a gang boss (Godspeed), a mattress where moldy life forms grow, or simply a gaze (Vertigo). In Base Station, what is being transported is intangible, the invisible waves of &#39;electromagnetic waves&#39; themselves. Eden tries to escape the invisible with Hyunho. However, the first scene of the film, as they head into the mountains, subtly reveals that the electromagnetic waves are pursuing the siblings as if possessed by ghosts. The world ghostly haunted by invisible electromagnetic waves is depicted through the unique energy of director PARK Syeyoung and YEON Yeji, who also stars in the film.</p>

<p>The title &quot;Doombung&quot; refers to a pond that acts as either a life-saving elixir or a deadly poison, depending on who encounters it. The area is shrouded in the mysterious legend of the &quot;Goblin&#39;s Pond.&quot; The film is structured into three episodes: &quot;Goblin Frequency,&quot; &quot;Electric Brain,&quot; and &quot;Life Water.&quot; The protagonists of each episode face harrowing experiences: a fisherman loses his life to the pond&#39;s ominous aura, a Bitcoin miner loses his mother by following computer instructions, and a person experiences bizarre physical changes after drinking the pond water. Each story portrays a unique version of hell for its characters. Doombung primarily follows a ghost story format but introduces elements of slasher, low-budget sci-fi, and creature features, showcasing the director&#39;s ambitious genre-blending style. The common thread that ties these episodes together is the danger each protagonist faces, driven by personal greed. The goblin&#39;s pond ultimately perpetuates its legend by feeding on human selfishness.</p>

<p>Esper&#39;s Light is, above all, a film filled with sensory pleasures. The task of creating the visual pleasure in the film is carried out with the awareness that the nature of this pleasure includes not only enjoyment and joy but also pain and confusion in similar textures. This film, which draws a group of dozens of teenagers to the center, alternates between documentary footage that observes their daily lives and the fantastical world of a low-budget B-movie genre. The records collected directly from reality interlock with the fictional symbols of various genres (SF, fantasy, monster movies, adventure films, crime films), constructing an image of a world that cannot be reduced to traditional representation logic. In this stage, JUNG Jae-hoon reconstructs the archetypal subject of &#39;the man with the camera&#39; into the contemporary form of &#39;teenagers with smartphones.&#39; The image of teenagers holding smartphones, looking at the light of display screens, and leaving posts on social media platforms transforms into adventurous subjects holding torches, looking at the light supplied to the entire city, and exploring forests and islands. Esper&#39;s Light, with countless characters, scenes, and symbols appearing and disappearing abruptly, is an adventurous and bizarre work that renews the material form of cinema.</p>

<p>A group of high school senior girls discovers a school ghost story that if they win a game of ghost hide-and-seek on the night of the school anniversary, they will receive a perfect score on the college entrance exam.</p>

<p>&quot;Can&#39;t we all just live together?&quot; It would be nice, but for the twin brothers Il-do and Yi-do, it&#39;s just a wishful thought. Born under a cursed fate due to their parents&#39; original sin, one must die for the other to live. To avoid this, they have deliberately cut off contact. However, when Yi-do, who works for a gang, gets stabbed, Il-do somehow hears about it and rushes to donate blood, saving his brother&#39;s life. But instead of gratitude, Yi-do attacks him the moment he sees him. In a world where even brothers have turned against each other, Il-do and Yi-do live in a survival-of-the-fittest reality, where failing to kill the other means facing one&#39;s own potential death. The film underscores this harsh reality by occasionally showing the brothers&#39; lives from the perspective of a bird of prey circling in the sky, looking for its next meal. If heaven and earth were to flip, changing the world&#39;s top and bottom, would the brothers&#39; fate change too? Heaven answers this question by suggesting that, just as Il-do and Yi-do are identical twins, heaven and hell are two sides of the same coin. So, among the two who cannot live together, who will survive?</p>

<p>A pig buried alive in a pit due to a deadly epidemic and a soldier who suffered constant violence from his superiors run away to the mountains. In the place where the half-human pig and the half-animal human are hiding, there are a herd of starving wild boars desperately looking for a way to survive, and a frustrated human looking for a place to end his own life hanging from every tree branch. Following the powerful opening scene that denounces the merciless violence caused by humans, what the audience faces is a repetition of bottomless despair and angry cries. The forest, which looks beautiful at first glance when warm light shines on it, seems to be a refuge for beings that are neither fully human nor animal, and at the same time a trap that cannot be escaped. In HUR Bum-wook&#39;s cruel world, the pig&#39;s wish to become a perfect human is futile. Amidst the bloodshed on mutilated bodies and the push towards psychological extremes, there are rare moments of relief. Whether human or beast, there is still a glimmer of hope.</p>

<p>During the unexpected upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seok-joo (SOHN Suhyun), struggling to make ends meet, takes on a part-time job editing online lecturers&#39; mistakes. However, she cannot completely ignore the societal pressure of appearing &quot;too feminist&quot; if she edits &quot;too correctly.&quot; While doing her job sufficiently, she stumbles upon the skillful paper-folding videos of Maeng-ji (SONG Ye-eun) and starts editing them. They quickly become close friends as they communicate well and work out together. In these times of crisis, when people had to adopt new ways of living to survive, their unintentionally exposed antics draw attention. Despite the absurdity, moments of joy and meaning still emerge in various relationships. The film turns the potentially clich&eacute;d narrative of societal disaster into a unique and individual story. The film serves as a light guide to friendship and relationships, illustrating how humans can survive amidst great despair and crisis.</p>

<p>&lsquo;Soo-ah&rsquo; spends hellish days everyday due to dating violence of her live-in boyfriend, &lsquo;Hyun-woo&rsquo;. &lsquo;Anuat&rsquo;, a man full of mystery, stays by the side of her. Soo-ah goes on a trip to an island with her only friends &lsquo;Yoon-mi&rsquo; and Hyun-woo to celebrate her 25th birthday. On the night of the full moon, Anuat follows the footsteps of Soo-ah and encounters evil spirits surrounding her.</p>

<p>Seoul is no longer a city in pursuit of happiness. At least, not in the future depicted in this film. There, the protagonist KIM Shin-dong coughs endlessly as he struggles to survive. The Tenants unfolds this landscape in black and white, adding vital imagination to the present-day Seoul. This effective strategy not only creates a unique atmosphere for the film but also serves as a mirror reflecting how our current reality closely resembles a bleak future. To avoid being evicted from his rental home, Shin-dong sublets the bathroom. This so-called &#39;sub-sublease&#39; leads to a tense and stressful situation as people with conflicting interests are crammed into a small space. The film resolves this tension through a labyrinthine mystery and a heavy twist, characteristic of director YOON Eunkyoung. People push others into increasingly narrow and dark corners to avoid being displaced from their own positions. The film&#39;s ending, where one faces the harsh reality in a secluded corner, may reveal the eerie true face of the city we live in.</p>

<p>In an old multi-family house, Wonjung Villa, Joo-hyun casually puts the missionary paper of the cult-church received by accident into the mailbox of Shin-hye. Shin-hye gradually devotes herself to the church and passionately evangelizes her neighbors for treating her sick son. On the day of the christening for the residents of the villa! Shin-hye learns that her child has become the property of human sacrifice and burst into rage.</p>

<p>The title says it all. While walking down the street, Jung-yoon hears from a stranger, Joon-woo, &ldquo;You will die in six hours.&quot; Joon-woo claims that the moment he saw Jung-yoon, he could see her death. Torn between doubt and unease, Jung-yoon spends the remaining six hours with Joon-woo. As they continue their journey together, it becomes clear that Joon-woo&#39;s foresight is not limited to Jung-yoon but is part of a series of unfolding events. As new aspects of Jung-yoon, Joon-woo, and Detective Ki-hoon, who is chasing the case, are revealed like turning over cards, the audience must deduce whether to trust Joon-woo and who the culprit of the case is. The film shifts direction sharply, passing the arrow of suspicion from one character to another as if handing over a relay baton. Will Joon-woo&#39;s premonition come true, or can death be prevented? The tension remains high until the very last moment.</p>

<p>&quot;Anti Late-Night Snack Club&quot; is a gathering where three members, each struggling with the aftermath of a breakup, the loss of a beloved pet, or the stress of work, come together to overcome their respective challenges. While meditating and strengthening their resolve, a surprise order of midnight snacks arrives, tempting them all. How can they resist this temptation? Instead of indulging in a long night of snacks, they recommend movies they&#39;d love to watch.</p>

<p>A girl draws a circle on the ground. Passers-by step into it, one by one. Soon the circle is full of people.</p>

<p>In the play, the &quot;Funeral Suit&quot; is not only the black clothing worn to funerals but also symbolizes the shadow of death. Da-gam visits Doo-joon&#39;s house to borrow a black suit. Doo-joon, welcoming Da-gam, casually asks, &quot;Who died this time?&quot; as if death is no big deal. However, the traces of death never leave Da-gam and Doo-joon. Eventually, Da-gam can no longer suppress his emotions about death that he had been holding back, and they erupt uncontrollably. (HUH Namwoong) Goedam Short Film Production Support 2023.</p>

<p>Bockey LEE, President of &ldquo;Tong Hal Tong (go through,)&rdquo; Communication, is a linguist and anthropologist who created the &ldquo;MM, UH, OH, AH&rdquo; conversational method for modern people. And now he&#39;s celebrating the 13th anniversary of the MM, UH, OH, AH dialectic with a series of private lectures. Sing along to &ldquo;MM, UH, OH, AH,&rdquo; a magical dialog for modern people who are tormented by the sounds of others, and it will bring peace to your soul. Don&#39;t miss this &ldquo;exclusive~&rdquo; talk by Mr. Bockey LEE!</p>

<p>Late at night, a flight attendant takes a taxi to the airport, feeling uneasy about the unfamiliar route the driver is taking. Neither the usual path nor the GPS and driver&#39;s phone seem to be functioning. Amidst the tension between the suspicious attendant and the driver, something unidentified collides with the taxi. In the dark highway, at night, inside the taxi, with an unknown presence... In a situation where neither people nor navigation can be trusted, this movie, depicted solely through the black box footage inside the car, intensifies the tension and fear within the confined space. A horror film perfectly suited for a midsummer night.</p>

<p>The era of the zombie apocalypse is coming to an end, but Joy&#39;s younger brother, Hyun-woo, cannot be cured even with the vaccine. In desperation, Joy captures living people to feed her brother, but the situation does not improve, and they are running out of people to feed him. Seeking answers, Joy heads to the church. This film portrays, in a bright and comedic yet realistic manner, the experiences of humans who have to live with their zombie family members.</p>

<p>Does the equation &ldquo;You can tell a person by their clothes&rdquo; mean (clothes=people)? Or, like Magritte&#39;s drawing of a pipe with the inscription &ldquo;Ceci n&#39;est pas une pipe.&rdquo;, does it show the inequality &ldquo;Clothes are not people&rdquo; (clothes&ne;people)? We&#39;ll try to fill in the face and body, but the clothes get pushed aside at the point where the body is revealed. Animating the &ldquo;slippage between signifier and signified&rdquo;.</p>

<p>Susanna is about to become a nun in three days, and she finds herself sharing a room with an older nun, Teresa. This situation leaves her feeling confused and uncertain about whether she can successfully go through with the profession rite. The movie doesn&#39;t rely on common genre tropes like jump scares or direct gimmicks. Instead, it progresses through subtle metaphors and an atmospheric tone. At the heart of the film is actress OH Woori, whose presence embodies the genre and whose performance is profoundly impactful.</p>

<p>Korea is facing a population decline crisis, compounded by the emergence of a new virus called PT3 that destroys red blood cells. The only treatment is transfusion of young blood, but with only 11 million elderly patients eligible for donation and a mere 900,000 young donors, the price of blood has skyrocketed. This movie weaves a richly imaginative and genre-filled narrative about population decline, presenting a story that is masterfully executed.</p>

<p>Believing herself to be the most miserable person, &lsquo;Joy&rsquo; learns about the existence of the &quot;Happiness Destroyers,&quot; a group that destroys others&#39; happiness. She uses all her savings to hire them and selects three people on social media whose happiness she wants to ruin. The happiness elements that the Happiness Destroyers disrupt are not grand, but Joy feels a sense of happiness watching these people quickly become unhappy. This stylishly satirical film critiques the reality of flaunting happiness and wishing for others&#39; misfortune.</p>

<p>On a Friday night, a couple is about to embark on a new romance. The man doesn&#39;t want to part ways, while the woman is troubled by an issue waiting at home. This terrifying problem, chilling to the core, will become a painful metaphor of fear for the couple just beginning their love.</p>

<p>In 2009, during the summer break when the Jisan Valley Rock Festival was held for the first time, Blur announced their reunion, and Oasis declared their breakup. For Su-min, a middle school student living in the countryside, Suzuki, who had introduced her to a wider world, suddenly disappeared. Su-min&#39;s journey to find Suzuki is a coming-of-age film filled with the nostalgia of the 2000s that makes your heart race from the opening scene.</p>

<p>HA Hari, standing at 145cm, and DOKGO Mook, towering at 190cm, are lovers facing a 45cm height gap. Despite hurting their necks and waists in the process, they cherish each other deeply. Doctors advise separation due to neck and waist disc issues, yet these two, who are simply fond of one another, ponder over the impossibility of meeting more. &ldquo;Love&rdquo; or &ldquo;Disc&rdquo; problems, eventually, the method they&#39;ve chosen is both endearing and chilling.</p>

<p>Unlike her colleagues who indulge in luxury and pretentiousness, disregarding the value of money, Youngsook, a member of the management department, strives to uphold her honest beliefs. Struggling to fit in and being pressured to falsify accounts, Youngsook starts a thorough and satisfying audit of her colleagues who have suddenly turned into zombies. This is a refreshing office action revenge drama where Youngsook fights to maintain her principles.</p>

<p>Although globally rare, the water deer is common in Korea and typically encountered when it suddenly jumps out and gets hit by a car. The world of The Popstar Water Deer and I overlaps with Korea, a country that is dying of depopulation while spreading K-culture. Whether it&#39;s a wild animal or a famous singer, death soon turns us upside down and makes us think about life. Once again, the director focuses on the predestined end and futility.</p>

<p>At the end of the century, conspiracy theorist reporter LEE Jung-hwan is imprisoned in the cyber prison &ldquo;New Flash&rdquo;, which confines consciousness within the brain. Disgraced police officer KIM Jeon-pil, fired due to Jung-hwan&#39;s fake news, retaliates against his fabricated expos&eacute;. The film captivates with its intense and stylish mise-en-sc&egrave;ne.</p>

<p>A quirky, melancholy body horror that mixes genre kicks with playful formalism as it follows the life of a mattress-dwelling fungus.</p> <p>Through love, sickness and death, the bed is a constant witness to sadness, anger and despair. But what if such feelings foster the growth of something in our beds? This melancholy creature feature traces the life cycle of a mattress-dwelling fungus that not only thrives on its guests&rsquo; negative energies, but snatches their spinal parts to shape its own body. As it moves from a couple&rsquo;s apartment to the edge of North Korea, we come to pity this being that seems doomed to mirror our modern malaise, even as it outlives our inhospitable times. With electric visuals, twitchy creature effects and quirky synth music that mixes the otherworldly with schmaltz, this genuine oddity will surprise even the most sophisticated genre fan.</p>

<p>The movie begins as Jeong-in returns to her hometown, &ldquo;Pak-ha Village&rdquo;. Wounded and weary, Jeong-in can&rsquo;t let her guard down even there. The villagers look down on her and threaten her. However, when Hye-jung moves to the village, the atmosphere begins to change. As she doesn&rsquo;t engage in farming and lives a completely different lifestyle, the villagers see Hye-jung&rsquo;s with disdain. From that moment on, the intensity of the movie rises sharply. As Jeong-in and Hye-jung confront those who try to harm them, in order to find their own inner strength, the satisfaction of the progress is amplified. Starting with realistic landscapes, the flow of this story of women refusing to be passive embarking on a journey is strangely captivating. It is based on a mystery novel by author Seo Miae.</p>

<p>In the winter of 1999, when the streets were filled with all kinds of rumors surrounding the end of the century, from Nostradamus&#39; ominous prophecy to the danger of Y2K Bug, the nasty nickname given to Young-mi was, of course, &ldquo;Ms. Apocalypse.&rdquo; But She doesn&#39;t care. Whether others are collecting emergency food or laughing at her, Yeongmi doesn&#39;t care and sticks to her work day and night. This is because he is paying back the money he stole from the company on behalf of his crush, Doyoung. It&#39;s dizzying up to this point, but it gets even worse from now on. It turns out that Doyoung is a married man, and soon after, he goes to prison for embezzlement of public funds. Even Youngmi cannot avoid judgment. A few months later, release from prison, Do-yeong&#39;s wife, Yu-jin, visits Yeong-mi and offers to repay her husband&#39;s debt. Young-mi, who has nowhere to turn, and Eugene, who cannot move due to a disability, begin an uncomfortable cohabitation. Ms. Apocalypse depicts the relationships between the weak, each with their own vulnerabilities, and at odds with the world. While the end of the world is only a rumor, the two women rush into the world with great momentum and complete their own narrative of salvation.</p>

<p>The perverted serial killer who shook the world, &quot;Shinagawa Piero,&quot; has been arrested. The killer turns out to be a 20-year-old woman! A boy, seeking to find his murdered father&#39;s missing head, writes a letter to her in prison under the name of Arata, a child welfare center worker who was counseling him. To fulfill the boy&#39;s request, Arata meets her, but when she realizes Arata did not write the letter, he abruptly proposes marriage to her to capture her interest.<br /> The film, much like the original cartoon that gained popularity for its bold subject of marrying a murderer, starts off intriguingly. The story captivates viewers as it delves into the hidden secrets of her murders and identity, and as the relationship between the two evolves while uncovering the truth. Directed by TSUTSUMI Yukihiko with a compelling performance by YAGIRA Yuya, this bizarre marriage can be witnessed for the world premiere at BIFAN 2024.</p>

<p>Was the celebrated Spanish surrealist Salvador Dal&iacute; (1904&ndash;1989) ever not &#39;in character&#39;? He fashioned a flamboyant public persona &ndash; &ldquo;eccentric and concentric, anarchist and monarchist&rdquo;, and completely lived by it, &#39;acting out&#39; his outrageous whims and impulses to the point where his daily life became his principal artwork, and the perpetual demonstration of his self-proclaimed genius.</p>

<p>As a child, Sita witnessed the tragic loss of her parents due to a bombing terrorist. Just before the explosion, the terrorist told Sita that he was a martyr and, according to Muslim tradition, would go to heaven to avoid the torture in the grave that sinners must endure when buried. Haunted by the terrorist&#39;s words, the adult Sita has one remaining purpose in life: to prove that the torture in the grave does not exist and is fearmongering by religion. Determined to demonstrate her belief, she lies in a grave with the corpse of the most wicked person she can find, only to be confronted with an unexpected and even more horrifying terror. Grave Torture, a new film by Joko Anwar, is expanded from a 2012 omnibus short he co-created with Iguchi Noboru and Erik Matti. Embedding social criticism in a mastery blending of horror and psychological thriller, Anwar&#39;s distinctive style shines through the seamless plot and precise mise-en-sc&egrave;ne. Sharp yet thoughtful questioning of the relationship between religion and humanity reveals another layer of Anwar&#39;s prowess as a filmmaker.</p>

<p>Joe&#39;s car overheated and broke down while he was traveling on a remote mountain road with his pregnant wife. While he left briefly to find water, an accident happened to his wife. In 1985, nine years later, Joe, still unable to forget his wife, struggles with severe financial difficulties while raising their daughter, Sofia, alone. Joe gets a job as a handyman and moves into a house deep in the mountains with Sofia. There, he meets a Javanese woman and some children who exhibit strange behaviors and an ominous atmosphere. Directed by the renowned Southeast Asian director WOO Ming Jin, the film showcases his mature directing skills. The setting in 1985 is the year of the Memali Incident in Malaysia, which was triggered by political factionalism and religious conflicts. Against this historical backdrop, the film meticulously visualizes the nightmares and hallucinations experienced by Joe and Sophia. The intricately designed spaces, including the entrance to the Javanese woman&#39;s house, the mansion itself, and the well in the yard, all contribute to amplifying the psychological horror.</p>

<p>Middle school choir leader OKA Satomi unexpectedly receives a request from yakuza member NARITA Kyojiro. He asks her to become his singing coach to avoid the dreadful punishment given to the last place in the gang&#39;s singing contest. What starts as an unlikely pairing of a middle school student and a yakuza feels like a &lsquo;natural disaster&#39; at first. The straight-laced boy, experiencing the gloom of adolescence, encounters the &lsquo;extraordinary&rsquo; world of the yakuza, glimpses an unfamiliar realm of rebellion, and learns to let go of his obsession with being &lsquo;useful&rsquo; As he builds a relationship that oscillates between friendship and affection with someone from such a different world, he gradually embraces the change that comes with growing up. Based on WAYAMA Yama&#39;s manga of the same name, the film features a delicate adaptation by screenwriter NOGI Akiko and captivating performances by the lead actors. The unforgettable climax features X Japan&#39;s hit song &quot;Kurenai,&quot; leaving a lasting impression. The film asserts that the essence of singing is love, a claim that resonates powerfully by the end.</p>

<p>&lsquo;Will Will&rsquo; is a dating matching app. Rinka, who works at a wedding hall, reluctantly joins the app and finds herself entangled in a troubling situation. After exchanging messages and meeting once with a man named Tomu, the police show up, a murder occurs nearby, and Rinka discovers hidden family secrets, causing her life to spiral downward. UCHIDA Eiji, well-known in Korea for The Naked Director, directed and wrote Matched. His direction bursts the bubble of the happy image of married life from the start, hinting at the ominous events and extraordinary imagery to follow. Initially thought to be a serial killing targeting happy marriages, it is revealed to be a targeted crime against Rinka and her family. Just when it seems the culprit is caught, another perpetrator emerges, and the story circles back to the beginning, showcasing Uchida&#39;s skill in mastering genre-specific storytelling with each project he undertakes.</p>

<p>DR. MAN, a psychiatrist, has the ability to uncover deep-seated secrets hidden within a patient&#39;s subconscious through counseling. However, he does not stop at counseling alone; he often engages in field investigations, which are forbidden for doctors, to solve problems, earning warnings from the hospital. He firmly believes that this approach is the best solution for the patient and is part of a doctor&#39;s duty. One day, DR. MAN gets a strange feeling about a taxi driver named CHOI whom he meets by chance. A few days later, after CHOI causes a major traffic accident and is hospitalized, MAN meets him again and starts counseling, gradually uncovering the reality behind CHOI&#39;s insomnia and hallucinations. This film, the fourth directorial work by Nick CHEUNG, who is well-known as an actor, is a horror movie that stands out for its fantasy sequences and artistic elements, which vividly depict the anxiety and trauma of characters shattered by shock. In addition to his direction, Nick CHEUNG impressively plays the role of the taxi driver CHOI, alongside Terrance Chun Him LAU, who portrays the psychiatrist MAN. Fans will also be delighted by a special appearance from Andy LAU.</p>

<h6><span style="font-size:14px">It&#39;s summer in Greece and Stela escapes to her summer house hoping to finish her thesis. There, her loud neighbour and his girlfriend keep distracting her. One night Stela witnesses a terrible crime.</span></h6>

<p>World War II has just ended. In a ruin that was once a diner, a woman forced into sex work, a small boy and a soldier meet. While the world around them transitions from terror to dismay these three survivors, each carrying their own set of scars, are looking for safety. A chamber drama that segues into a road movie of sorts, the film explores a new reality: where the coming of age of the nation is anchored to the coming of a young boy.</p>

<p>Yu-mi and her friends are staying in a small Japanese town. When Hee-jung doesn&#39;t return home for dinner, they decide to visit the shrine from her painting. Strange occurrences startle them as they explore the shrine, even some end up injuring themselves. Yu-mi senses a sinister presence lurking within. She knows the right person for this, her old shaman friend named Myung-jin. Leaving the past behind with Yu-mi, he joins Pastor Han-ju, a spiritual leader of the town. Their mysterious cooperation to keep everyone safe is about to begin.</p>

<p>The opening images set a brooding tone: a man on foot, gazing at dark, scarcely inhabited mountains. He&rsquo;s about to investigate a string of child disappearances and will soon cross paths with a woman looking into murders in the same, intensely secretive village. These intertwined cases keep turning up references to a horrific local legend, the supernatural &ldquo;soul eater&rdquo;. But wasn&rsquo;t this just a myth parents used to scare the young?<br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p>Sperm have to overcome the odds of 1 in 300 million to reach the egg and fertilize it. Sperm must be prepared for any situation through daily survival learning and training. Simon, the very happy sperm living in the testicles of the boy Jens, sets out on a journey that risks his life when Jens attempts to have sex with Lisa for the first time on a camping trip. Will Simon, along with the other sperm risking everything for fertilization, be able to reach the egg and fertilize it, avoiding the attacks of spermicides on the long and difficult journey to the womb? Spermageddon, a collaboration between Dead Snow&#39;s Tommy Wirkola and animation director Rasmus A. Sivertsen, stands out for its ingenious imagination, portraying the harsh competitive world of sperm through an action-adventure drama. The comical action adventure of the sperm, the coming-of-age romance between Jens and Lisa, and the musical sequences with dancing and singing provide great fun not to be missed. The tip that condoms are not the ultimate solution for contraception is a bonus.</p>

<p>In the previous film, the genius hacker and murderer Urano successfully escaped from prison. Now, he has come to Korea at the request of the anti-government group &quot;Mugunghwa,&quot; which aims to prevent an upcoming Japan-Korea summit. Soo Min, a member of Mugunghwa, is assigned to monitor Urano but gradually feels a sense of kinship and attraction towards him. Meanwhile, Detective Kagaya, who previously captured Urano, faces him again in his new role within the Japanese cabinet.<br /> This is the final installment in the film series based on the bestselling novel Stolen Identity. As the setting expands to Korea, the scale of the story also grows larger. The intriguing dynamic between Urano and Kagaya, who have been adversaries in previous films, remains compelling. In this installment, the focus on the villain Urano reveals hidden aspects of his character, adding another layer of intrigue. This film also marks the movie debut of popular idol singer KWON Eunbi, showcasing her new charms.</p>

<p>During Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Jessica Wright and friends enter RightMart early for a Black Friday sale, inciting a deadly stampede. A year later, a masked killer named &ldquo;Carver&rdquo; targets those involved in the incident. Jessica and her friends face horrific attacks, leading to a tense showdown. Jessica struggles to uncover the identity of the killer.</p>

<p><em>The Visitor</em>&nbsp;is a British-set reimagining of Pier Paolo Pasolini&rsquo;s 1968 film&nbsp;<em>Teorema</em>. Pasolini&rsquo;s enigmatic protagonist, known to everyone as &ldquo;the visitor&rdquo;, arrives at the house of an upper-class family and seduces each family member one after the other. When he suddenly departs, he leaves behind an emptiness for which the rest attempt to compensate in different ways. In Bruce LaBruce&rsquo;s&nbsp;<em>The Visitor</em>, it is a refugee who washes up in a small suitcase on the banks of the River Thames in London. He is one of several identical-looking men who simultaneously emerge from suitcases in other locations around the city. Dressed in the guise of a homeless man, he arrives at the house of an upper-class family and gets to know the maid. When she passes him off as her nephew, the family invites him to also work for them as a live-in servant. The guest makes love with each of the residents of the house one after the other, depicted in explicit sex scenes. Each member of the household experiences a radical sexual and spiritual transformation.</p>

<p>Many years following the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunts down a young woman, Azrael, who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil that resides deep within the surrounding wilderness &ndash; yet she will stop at nothing to ensure her own survival. In what follows, Azrael makes a savage bid for freedom as her escape accelerates towards a vicious, revenge-fueled showdown.</p>

<p>A bride-to-be is invited to join her own fianc&eacute;&rsquo;s bachelor party on a remote property in the Australian outback. But as the festivities spiral into beer-soaked chaos, uncomfortable details about their relationship are exposed, and the celebration soon becomes a feral nightmare. A striking and powerful feature debut from Jack Clark and Jim Weir.</p>

<p>In the distant future, humans have adapted to survive in protected zones called clusters, transforming into various forms. Kisaragi, turned into a cyborg through the human experiments of the vampire group &quot;The Immortal Knights,&quot; is now a fugitive. As the Immortal Knights aim to dominate all of Tokyo, yakuza gangs also start hunting Kisaragi to avenge the murder of their boss. While evading capture, Kisaragi ends up protecting his old friend&#39;s younger sister, leading his hellish escape into a massive battle.<br /> Set in a futuristic city that epitomizes the sci-fi genre, this animation is characterized by non-stop, spectacular action sequences. The distinct characters, including cyborgs, vampires, and yakuza, each with their unique action styles, significantly enhance the story&#39;s appeal. The collaboration of the production team and voice actors, known for their popular and successful works, further elevates the quality of the film, making it a must-watch for animation fans.</p>

<p>On the night Halloween begins, five friends are invited to the Liseberg amusement park. It&rsquo;s a preview event where they can enjoy the park with no one else around. The only staff member present is Fiona. Fiona and the five friends meet at the park entrance and are taken aback. They had attended a party together a year ago, but drifted apart due to an incident that occurred that night. Just as they begin to wonder why they have been brought together again, the eerie atmosphere of the amusement park at midnight turns into terrifying horror when a mysterious stranger appears. Amid the blood-splattered horror, the film intricately weaves a web of suspense by gradually peeling back the layers like an onion, revealing the truth of that night and the subtle differences in the protagonists&#39; relationships. From &ldquo;which character is sacrificed in what order&rdquo; to &ldquo;who survives,&rdquo; the film displays cleverness in subverting the rules of typical horror movies with similar setups.</p>

<p>Nam and Xuan, return to Nam&#39;s hometown to attend his father&#39;s funeral. However, their moment of mourning is brief as Nam&#39;s family begins to argue over the dog meat slaughterhouse they run. Nam and Xuan feel increasingly uncomfortable with the family&#39;s attitudes and the unsettling atmosphere of the home. Strange and inexplicable events start to occur around the house, and as family members fall victim to mysterious attacks one by one, Nam and Xuan are consumed by fear. Crimson Snout is the debut film of Luu Thanh Luan, who uses the eerie backdrop of a dog slaughterhouse to explore contemporary societal issues such as tradition versus modernity, generational conflicts, and gender issues through the lens of supernatural horror. The well-crafted character relationships, solid plot, and sophisticated horror style showcase the impressive potential of the rapidly growing Vietnamese film industry. After its release in Vietnam this January, it set a new box office record in Vietnamese cinema history.</p>

<p>After the death of his wife, Mit moves with his teenage daughter May to a derelict mansion in a Muslim-majority suburb of Bangkok. A thorough sceptic, Mit gets rid of the talismans in the house, defying the warnings of the locals, and in the process unleashes a furious djinn and its 200-year-old curse. As Mit sinks into delirium and self-harm, May must undertake a journey to the south to seek help.</p>

<p>Upper Austria in 1750. A fish pond reflects the overcast sky. A deep, dark forest swallows the sunlight. On a hilltop, the corpse of a hanged woman is displayed. As an example. A warning. An omen? The deeply religious and highly sensitive Agnes regards the dead woman with pity. But also with longing: she feels like a stranger in the world of her husband Wolf, whom she has just married. It is an emotionally cold world consisting of work, chores and expectations. Agnes increasingly withdraws into herself. Her internal prison becomes ever more oppressive, her melancholy more overwhelming. Soon, her only way out seems to be a shocking act of violence.<br /> Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala create a profound and disturbing psychological portrait of a woman made of flesh and bone, sinew and soul, played by Anja Plaschg who, as Soap &amp; Skin, also composed the score.&nbsp;<em>Des Teufels Bad</em>&nbsp;gives a voice to the peasant women who were invisible and unheard at that time and depicts their harsh daily lives defined by religious dogma and taboos whose impact resonates to this day. The film is based on historical court records about a shocking, previously unexplored chapter of European history.</p>

<p>The Kamiki family, after years of effort, finally moves into their dream home, only to experience strange occurrences. Five out of seven family members die under mysterious circumstances, leaving only the grandmother with dementia and her teenage grandson. They eventually realize that the vengeful spirit of a girl named &ldquo;Sayuri&rdquo;, who lived there ten years ago, is behind the tragedies. Now, it&#39;s their turn to prepare for a fierce fight for survival.<br /> In the film House of Sayuri, most of the family dies within the first 50 minutes. So, what fills the remaining 58 minutes? What starts as a typical haunted house horror takes a completely unexpected turn, diverging from the norm in surprising ways. Based on OSHIKIRI Rensuke&#39;s manga of the same name, the film adaptation adds a touch of dark humor, attempting to avoid depicting the horrific domestic violence and the obsession with family/home solely as a dark abyss. This unique approach is noteworthy.</p>

<p>Set over one night in a dusty roadside diner, Last Straw (2023) follows Nancy, a young waitress working alone on the late shift. As a series of chaotic events spiral out of control, Nancy finds herself in a fight for her life when she is terrorized by a group of masked assailants. No one is who they appear to be, and with nowhere to turn, she must do everything she can to survive the night.</p>

<p>After his military service, Faris returns home only to be met with the sudden divorce request from his wife, Ratna. Confused by Ratna&#39;s changed attitude and behavior, Faris begins to investigate her surroundings to find the reason. While suspecting an affair with a colleague she works with, Faris discovers that there is a more sinister secret behind her transformation. Razka Robby Ertanto&#39;s Possession: Kerasukan is a remake of Andrzej Zulawski&#39;s 1981 film. While the film shares the original&#39;s approach of amplifying the mysterious femininity that completely disrupts the rational world of the male protagonist within a detective narrative, its dreamlike and surreal mise-en-sc&egrave;ne, reminiscent of David Lynch, unfolds another vision. The male anxiety is juxtaposed with bold and daring images filled with primal energy, gradually and intensely amplifying the psychological unease as the plot progresses.</p>

<p>A civil war rages across a vast, seemingly unpopulated landscape. As men fight and die, a mute woman searches for her son who has been kidnapped by child organ traffickers. She is accompanied by &lsquo;the Steppenwolf&rsquo;, a reformed ex-convict now hardened into a ruthless investigator. They resemble a bloody odd couple, but are determined to see their mission through, removing every obstacle &ndash; most of them human &ndash; in their path.<br /> <br /> Following the success of Assault (IFFR 2022), prolific filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov returns with Steppenwolf, his fifteenth feature in twelve years. Maintaining his signature absurdist touch, Steppenwolf stands as a testament to his prowess, skillfully interweaving classic elements from Westerns (with John Ford&rsquo;s The Searchers, 1956, a key inspiration) road movies and revenge dramas. Yerzhanov&#39;s mastery lies in reducing these genres to their elemental core, presenting them in a clean-cut manner, almost resembling the structure of a video game &ndash; shoot, get treasure, repeat. This film is his most stylised, visually arresting and genre-defying work to date and as before, he doesn&rsquo;t hold back on violence: it is bloody, furious and copious. Formally striking, Yerzhanov makes the most of the breathtaking landscape the action unfolds across, its beauty contrasting with the film&rsquo;s bloodier elements, whose impact might be unbearable had Yerzhanov not leavened it with humour, albeit of the darkest kind.</p>

<p>While waiting for a train to attend their mother&#39;s wedding, brothers Gautam and Raman are mistaken for thieves who have stolen a newborn baby from the platform. Although the misunderstanding is quickly resolved, the brothers become entangled in the case because Raman witnessed the actual kidnapper. Gautam, eager to leave, is frustrated by his brother&#39;s desire to help the baby&#39;s mother. However, the police detain them, and the desperate mother pleads for their assistance in finding her child. Reluctantly drawn into the ordeal, the brothers face a nightmarish reality.<br /> Based on a true story, this film meticulously explores several of India&#39;s pressing social issues within a short runtime, such as frequent child abductions, missing children, and the dangers of mob violence fueled by prejudice and ignorance. The film&#39;s genre-driven intensity and assured direction, especially for a debut, deliver a compelling narrative filled with impactful messages. The question remains: was the baby the only thing stolen?</p>

<p>In the grand tradition of artists menaced by their own work (Peeping Tom, Black Swan, Mother, Hanover Square) Stopmotion (2023) finds a young woman who loses control of her stop motion film, inviting a frightening figure called The Ash Man into her life. Taking full advantage of the macabre, unreal nature of stop motion as an art, Stopmotion (2023) builds a story of horrific psychosis, while a Babadook-like figure lurks, building up its own creepy mythology of the three nights he comes to visit.</p>

<p>Unveiled through a made-for-TV documentary, five tales of found footage horror emerge to take viewers on a terrifying journey into the grim underbelly of the 1980s.</p>

<p>In a city infested with &ldquo;unliving&rdquo; - non-cannibal zombies - three slackers in search of easy money from the zombie trade must battle petty crooks and a nefarious megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandmother.</p>

<p>About 1,000 years ago, during Japan&#39;s Heian period, the Onmyōbu (Yin Yang Bureau), composed of government officials known as Onmyōji (Yin Yang Master), was a department responsible for protecting the city from curses and evil spells, as well as training new Onmyōji. ABE NO Seimei, a highly skilled Onmyōji, had no interest in advancement or social interactions. Together with Hiromasa, a nobleman, he investigates the visions haunting Princess Yoshiko every night. Around this time, an apprentice Onmyōji is murdered, and Seimei confronts hidden conspiracies and curses.<br /> ABE NO Seimei is celebrated as the greatest Onmyōji in Japanese history, and this work was created to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of his birth. From publications to films and games, numerous works have featured Abe no Seimei as the protagonist, solving mysterious incidents with his unique abilities, providing a thrill similar to that of the detective genre. In this production, YAMAZAKI Kento portrays ABE NO Seimei during his apprenticeship, offering a fresh charm distinct from previous Onmyōji works.</p>

<p>In a world devastated by chemical warfare, with a dwindling human population that beckons the spectre of its extinction, a lone scientist plans to ensure a future. In seeking an antidote to the sterility that has blighted the last vestiges of the male human population, conservation biologist Tania, in tandem with Vida, an artificial intelligence system, has found a symbiotic relationship. The arrival of Azarias, a mysterious and troubled traveller, disrupts the solitary environment Tania has built. But as the two become more relaxed in each other&rsquo;s presence, Vida feels her own relationship with Tania &ndash; and by turn her sense of belonging &ndash; is threatened.</p> <p>Writer, director and producer Leticia Tonos Paniagua&rsquo;s strikingly beautiful fifth feature eschews effects-laden cinema in favour of a more intimate probe into the nature of human existence. The interplay between the three characters, ably performed by Sophie Ga&euml;lle, Jalsen Santana and Paz Vega, as the voice of Vida, becomes a study of loneliness &ndash; particularly in our technology-driven, post-lockdown world where industrialised society has driven nature towards the precipice. The sci-fi genre has been considered rare in Caribbean cinema, making Paniagua&rsquo;s intelligent film all the more precious.</p> <p><em>&ndash;&nbsp;Vanja Kaludjercic</em></p>

<p>In a near future, normal life on Earth has been decimated. Paul and his two sons, Thomas and Joseph, have been living a half-life &ndash; tranquility by day and torment by night. One day, Thomas doesn&#39;t return home on time from a visit to his crush, the nearby farm girl, Charlotte. Paul chooses to leave the safety of their fortified farm, risking his life to find Thomas. Just as he finds his boy, a nightmarish battle ensues. Back at the house, Joseph is scared and all alone to defend himself against the nightly attack.</p>

<p>At every moment, the film asks the audience what judgment you would make. The situation is infinitely more delicate. While actors Daniel and Sandra were filming a bed scene, Sandra claims that Daniel raped her. Daniel completely denies this. If you were a production crew member who was on set with these people, a movie producer who rushed to you after hearing the news, or an actor&#39;s agent, who would you trust and how would you respond? The film, which drew the audience into the role of judge and navigated every nook and cranny of the difficult maze of truth, leaves the exit in the second half and presents a different scene. How hasty and dangerous can the attention and anger the media and the public throw at such incidents become? The intense battle over the truth over a sensitive case, as well as how each character&#39;s interests and social and political context are intertwined in the details, stands out for its perspective that examines the inside and outside of the case, the trees and the entire forest.</p>

<p>Mona&#39;s body represents systematically calibrated and thoroughly controlled desire, structured and solid, robust muscles, and the strange and overwhelming energy that emanates from them. Body Odyssey takes Mona&#39;s body as its main character and relies on the immense power of its owner, Mona, advancing unabashedly. The people around Mona, including her trainer Kurt, revere her body while also viewing it as an object of sexual desire. The impregnable Mona faces internal fractures and external blows due to the unexpected appearance of a character named Nic. Through what mechanisms and journeys do the body and mind reach a state of perfection, only to crumble afterwards? This is the feature debut of Grazia TRICARICO, who previously collaborated with Jacqueline FUCHS on the same subject in the short film Mona Blonde (2014), with FUCHS playing the role of Mona. The formidable presence of Jacqueline, a real-life bodybuilder, is astounding. The film also features the late Julian SANDS.</p>

<p>Paris, 1985. Vanessa is thirteen when she meets Gabriel Matzneff. A very smart and manipulative man, the fifty-year-old renowned writer seduces the young girl. The adolescent becomes the lover and muse of a man celebrated by the cultural and political establishment. Losing herself in the relationship, she gradually starts to realize how destructive and anormal the situation is, until she finally sees Gabriel for the predator he really is. Vanessa now has a long journey to free herself from his influence and heal from her suffering&hellip;</p>

<p>In 1995, a bank robbery orchestrated by five armed assailants occurred in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province. The unprecedented crime resulted in the disappearance of 15 million dollars in cash and the deaths of three security guards. To solve this case, a special investigation team led by Wang Shouyue and He Lan was formed. While tracking the armed assailants, the team discovered that local construction magnate Chen Xinwen and his cousin Chen Xinnian stand behind the crime. However, the two escaped Qingyuan and vanished into thin air. Twenty-one years later, the retired Wang Shouyue found a clue that could lead him to Chen Xinwen and resumed his pursuit. Jonathan LI&#39;s second feature, Dust to Dust, reconstructs the events of the actual bank robbery over a span of 20 years. The film maintains the suspense of a crime drama while providing deep insights into human nature, exploring themes such as desire, betrayal, survival, and guilt. Delicately portraying the socio-cultural conditions of China during the tumultuous end of the century, marked by poverty, development, social control, and migration, the film is further enriched by the powerful performances of its actors.</p>

<p>As the film announces right from the start, it is based on the life of the real person Andrea Absolonov&aacute;. It focuses on the period from 1996 to 2004, when she had to quit diving due to an injury and became a pornographic actress. The film is filled with dramatic elements: injury, disappointment, pornography, family conflicts, the eyes of the people, and more. While clearly addressing these aspects, the film portrays them calmly, without any sensationalism, leaving room for reflection on Andrea&#39;s choices and feelings. She is neither a pitiable victim nor a weak person pushed by fate; rather, the film subtly suggests that she is akin to a fighter. The direction conveys a respectful attitude towards her life, avoiding any hasty conclusions. This is particularly evident in the way director Nat&aacute;lie C&Iacute;SAŘOVSK&Aacute; skillfully navigates between fiction and documentary. This film marks her debut as a director of feature films.</p>

<p>Experience that transforms the M100 GAV into a large film set for a feature film, where audiences will be able to witness the filming and participate in unexpected ways.</p>

<p>In the 1980s, Xuebing, a retired sharpshooter, works as a security guard at a rundown state-owned factory in northeastern China. As the factory faces increasing difficulties and fails to pay its employees, theft becomes rampant. Xuebing develops feelings for Xiao Jin, a resilient single mother. One day, Xuebing discovers that Xiao Jin&#39;s son has been involved in crimes with local delinquents.<br /> The sense of helplessness in society, layered on top of the loneliness of a man who has put down his lifelong companion, his gun, due to health reasons, drives him back to it. As he crafts his own gun, Xuebing&#39;s inseparability from his weapon mirrors that of an artisan with his lifelong tool. As feelings of powerlessness and loss deepen, Xuebing is drawn back to the gun. The title, rich with multiple meanings, will leave a poignant and lingering impression on the audience&#39;s hearts.</p>

<p>Rumours about a mythical free land sow havoc in an ultra-regulated society where citizens wear paper bags on their heads to dissolve their differences. In this stylish sci-fi animation, a well-oiled system with echoes of George Orwell&rsquo;s 1984, starts crumbling when whispers of a land where freedom reigns begin to spread. The hero, a fresh council member in love with a free-spirited girl, finds himself involved in a complicated net of incidents that open his eyes to a new reality.</p>

<p>The second feature film directed by Xavier LEGRAND, who made Custody (2017). While gaining attention in Paris, France, designer Ellias receives news that his father has passed away. To attend the funeral of his father, whom he hasn&#39;t contacted in a long time, Ellias takes time to return to his hometown of Quebec, Canada, for the first time in 20 years. While sorting through his father&#39;s belongings, he encounters a shock that he can no longer dismiss as merely annoying. From that moment, the atmosphere of the film changes completely. By focusing on a limited time and space without lengthy explanations, LEGRAND&#39;s unique direction shines once again, making the audience imagine countless times and spaces beyond what is shown on screen. The suspicion and tension surrounding the shock build up to an explosive climax towards the end. Can Ellias truly distance himself from the father he so desperately did not want to resemble? The answer remains elusive until the very last moment, keeping you on edge.</p>

<p>When estranged siblings, Joseph and Sidney, rendezvous at a local diner after a close-call robbery, they hightail it to an abandoned farmhouse that transports them to a different time in order to escape the local cops. But when they try to return to their present after the coast is clear, an unknown metaphysical force cuts them off and maroons them on the land unless they do exactly what they&#39;re told. What comes from this not only bends the forces of spacetime but also bends Joe and Sid&#39;s familial bonds beyond the point of trust and forgiveness.</p>

<p>Xu Jun, a former narcotics officer, lives in seclusion surrounded by nature after retirement. He eagerly awaits his only family, his hearing-impaired daughter, to graduate from college. However, he receives the devastating news of her death, murdered by a classmate. Xu Jun travels to the U.S. to recover her body and, with the help of Lucy, a college student who assists with translation, he uncovers the hidden truths behind her death.<br /> The cold, snow-covered small town mirrors the desolate heart of a father who has lost everything. As he delves into the mystery of his daughter&#39;s tragic death, he reminisces about her and finds new hope. The film combines the chilling tension of a crime thriller with the poignant social issues faced by outsiders. The superb performances by renowned actors from both East and West add to the film&#39;s overall quality.</p>

<p>Japan has turned into a world of zombies. Rei, who dreamed of becoming a poet, and his younger sister Yuna, who lost their parents, are being helped by Dr. Rika. Yuna, who wanted to die before turning into a zombie, eventually transforms, leaving Rei in despair. Rika, with the help of her acquaintance Takishiba, plans an escape overseas with Rei. However, as Rika herself approaches the stages of turning into a zombie, the question arises: can they find hope amidst endless despair?<br /> As the title suggests, this work&#39;s charm lies in its ability to discuss philosophical topics within a zombie narrative. The situation and reality faced by those standing at the crossroads between humanity and zombification raise the heavy question of whether anyone can truly say that death is beautiful. This feature-length animation, created entirely by generative AI, showcases an astonishing level of completion, making it hard to believe it was made by a small team. As AI-generated films become a modern trend, this work, much like its story, hints at various meanings.</p>

<p>A gang of thieves, hired to steal a large sum of money from a bank vault, successfully completes the heist thanks to their clear roles and division of labor. However, they soon realize they have been betrayed by their client and are caught in a trap. To escape and uncover the mastermind behind the betrayal, they devise a plan to return the stolen money to the vault. The gang&#39;s leader, Po-Chun, along with an old lover he unexpectedly encounters, embarks on this extraordinary mission.<br /> Following the classic formula of a caper movie, this film guarantees the fundamental pleasures of the heist genre. It cleverly incorporates a reverse heist as its premise, offering a fresh twist that contrasts with genre conventions. The blend of comedy and romance interspersed throughout the film adds to its multifaceted appeal. Audiences will also enjoy the performances of popular Taiwanese actors such as CHEN Bo-Lin and Kent TSAI.</p>

<p>Risto and Arto are on the verge of the abyss of their lives. Risto is addicted to gambling, even using the money for his son&#39;s birthday present, and Arto is recently diagnosed as having lost 85% of his brain. The two, who need a new phase in their lives, start a hearse business, but they fall into a deeper hole when they become entangled with a mop that runs an illegal Russian roulette game show. Death Is a Problem for the Living is a black comedy by Teemu Nikki, who is leading contemporary Finnish cinema with his recent prolific work. Risto and Arto&#39;s choice to survive is to make a living through the deaths of others. But soon, this puts them at a crossroads between life and death. Like other characters in the director&#39;s previous works, these cartoon-like, somewhat exaggerated characters represent the very anxiety of ordinary people who endure the absurdities of life that no human can escape. It&#39;s funny, but it&#39;s too uncomfortable to just laugh it off. Maybe it&#39;s the bitter truth of all of our lives.</p>

<p>At the unexpected crossroads of The Revenant, Looney Tunes, Blazing Saddles and Buster Keaton films, the gleefully and endlessly inventive Hundreds of Beavers presents an alternative version of the man vs nature story. Including deadly icicles and conniving beavers.</p>

<p>Juyoung reunites with his long-lost first love, Dohoi, whom he has been desperately searching for, at a funeral after twelve years. &quot;It feels like everything is cursed...&quot; Twelve years ago, the two of them shared a tender love, empathizing with each other&#39;s wounds. How did they end up estranged from each other? Dohoi, who found his own dream instead of Taekwondo as he desired, and Juyoung, who still does Taekwondo, Can they break the curse of the past now, twelve years later?</p>

<p>When the Iron Curtain fell, travel for Hungarians was finally possible but completely unaffordable. Droll animation unearths the little-known story of how three pranksters forged train tickets for a generation to finally discover the world.</p>

<p>Two chimney sweeps living in monogamous, heterosexual marriages both end up in situations that challenge their views on sexuality and gender roles. One has a sexual encounter with another man, without himself experiencing it either as an expression of homosexual longings or infidelity. The other suddenly experiences nocturnal dreams in which he is seen as a woman. This confuses and disturbs him. He begins to wonder to what extent the gaze of others shapes his personality and whether there are aspects of himself that he has suppressed, thereby limiting himself.<br /> In Dag Johan Haugerud&rsquo;s&nbsp;<em>Sex</em>, the chimney is swept before we get down to business. Whether hetero or homo, witty wordplay challenges normative images of men and society in modern urban Norway.</p>

<p>Bill, inherited an old house that has been passed down for generations, moves from the United States to Norway with his family with plans to start a lodging business. Unlike Bill, who is full of dreams of starting a new life in a new environment, her children are dissatisfied with their life in the countryside, where there is no proper shopping mall and cell phones do not work well. Meanwhile, Bill&#39;s son Lucas discovers an elf in the barn and gets closer little by little, but tensions rise between Bill&#39;s family, who are trying to remodel the barn, and the elves, who are trying to protect it. There&#39;s Someone in Our Barn is a crazy horror comedy combining Christmas family comedy with gore actions. If you&#39;re expecting cute elves guarding a Nordic winter garden, you&#39;re wrong. The murderous action of the elves, who inflict bloody punishment on the humans who attack the barn, exceeds the level of most gore movies. The main elf who shares friendship with Lucas is played by the actor/stunt person Kiran Shah, who boasts appearances in the Superman, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings series.</p>

<p>&quot;Timestalker&quot; follows hapless heroine Agnes through time as she repeatedly falls for the wrong guy, dies a grim death, gets reincarnated a century later, before meeting him again and starting the cycle anew. It is one story told over many periods, all with the messy thrills and spills that come with daring to follow your heart. Or maybe your loins...<br /> Agnes&rsquo; only hope in avoiding this violent fate is by finally reaching spiritual enlightenment; but how can she ever wise up when she&rsquo;s destined to be a fool for love? Some lessons are just too hard to learn in one lifetime.</p>

<p>In the dregs of Depression Era America, a family of performers travels a cold, dying carnival circuit. Seven likes books; Maggie&rsquo;s fond of hammers; daughter Eve&rsquo;s obsessed with scissors. On a ratty stage, quiet Eve sings for their supper, but off-stage their bloody side act is booming. When the family&rsquo;s bond is severed by a violent comeuppance, Eve is there to pick up the pieces. After stealing magic from a sinister Devil-dealing carny, the family&rsquo;s gruesome act begins to shine. But Eve must continue to cut and sew, as the Devil guides them from below.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Everyone is like a new canvas that can be painted in different colours.&rdquo; So speaks art student Chi-wei, who is about to enter a turbulent phase of her young life in which all matters of politics, sexuality and creativity are open to question. Su I-hsuan&rsquo;s film revisits the memory of a prolonged strike at a Taiwanese art school in the 1990s, in which the students protested the cause of &#39;creative freedom&#39; in the face of patriarchal authority figures who insisted on conformism and conventionality. Worse still, the art history curriculum is entirely Westernised and Taiwanese art is accorded no value. This is a system seemingly impervious to the waves of social change that began earlier, like the 1990 Wild Lily student movement.</p>

<p>The estranged older sister has died. Makio, a 35-year-old best-selling author, impulsively takes her 15-year-old nephew Asa, who has nowhere to go, to her home. Asa&#39;s presence causes Makio to question everything, as she has never planned for marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, or even living in the same house with others. Meanwhile, Asa, an adolescent who lost his parents overnight, seems to be adapting well to his new environment but suddenly finds himself at a loss, unsure of how to process what has happened to him. Instead of portraying misfortune rapidly, the movie slowly and simply follows the hearts of two people. As they uncover secrets and truths hidden within the strong bonds of family, they embark on a journey to learn the values of love, friendship, and self-respect. Based on the manga of the same name by Tomoko YAMASHITA, the movie focuses on the changes in the relationship between Makio and Asa, who face their conflicts and gradually become closer.</p>

<p>This young man is 92 years old. Hwjn is not human, but a &ldquo;Jinn&rdquo;, an entity invisible to humans despite sharing the same space. In the world of Jinn, he is still considered a young man at 92, living a life vastly different from that of humans. One day, a modern family moves into the house Hwjn shares with his parents. The world of jinn quickly crumbles, replaced by human presence. Hwjn falls in love at first sight with &ldquo;Sawsan&rdquo;, the daughter of the new family. Although Sawsan cannot see Hwjn, she gradually begins to sense his presence. They start communicating through an iPad, dating like any young couple. However, their happiness is short-lived. Hwjn&#39;s cousin, Xanaam, hatches a sinister plot, forcing Hwjn to marry another Jinn woman, making Sawsan an innocent victim of the power struggles in the Jinn world. Can Hwjn protect her? Their story heralds a modern, new Arabian love story, reminiscent of Aladdin.<br /> Set in the port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the film offers an exotic and enchanting experience on screen. Based on the best-selling fantasy novel by Ibraheem Abbas, it was also the opening film of the 2024 Red Sea International Film Festival.</p>

<p>A fast-paced, action-packed animated science fiction extravaganza that takes cues from China&rsquo;s centuries-old Monkey King legends, as a streetwise pig in a bustling future metropolis makes friends and foes in his quest to stop the Bull Demon King&rsquo;s evil plans.</p>

<p>Three brave and mischievous friends just want to play a game called Angel. The only person who knows the password is Mom, but she&#39;s bedridden. To get the password, they need to cheer her up with a Blueberry Pie she craves. However, obtaining the pie proves challenging, starting with finding the key ingredient: eggs. Their adventurous quest to find eggs strengthens the bond among the trio through various trials. The film&#39;s faded visuals evoke a dreamy reminiscence of childhood memories. Despite being labeled a children&#39;s film, it overflows with trendy elements. Set against the beautiful natural backdrop of Wyoming, it evokes a hippie aesthetic. Though the trio&#39;s passion and courage might remind adults of their own lost dreams, the film ultimately delivers a stylish, endearing, and joyful experience.</p>

<p>Aki, a nude model, is captivated by a strange feeling when she sees Michio, a blind sculptor, meticulously touching a sculpture modeled after her body in an art gallery. Later, Aki is kidnapped by Michio, disguised as a blind masseur. She wakes up in a gloomy space filled with molds and sculptures of various parts of the female body and begins a grotesque relationship with Michio.<br /> This compelling work showcases the collaboration of two masters: the original story by renowned Japanese mystery novelist Edogawa Rampo and the provocative direction of Yasuzō Masumura. Acclaimed as a global cult classic, this film is famous for being the first in Japanese cinema history to address sadomasochism. The surreal images and atmosphere portray the bizarrely twisted emotions of the two characters as they endlessly indulge in each other, now available in a world premiere 4K remastered version.</p>

<p>In 1919, YOON Sim-deok, the first Korean government-sponsored student, went to Japan and enrolled at Tokyo Music School, burning with ambition. With her innate free-spirited nature and abundant charm, she constantly attracted the admiring gazes of male students around her. During this time, Sim-deok met KIM Woojin, a central figure in the Drama Art Association formed by the students. He was a married man with a wife and daughter back home, studying theater at Waseda University in Japan. Sim-deok, bold and unrestrained, and Woojin, weak and delicate, fell into an uncontrollable love. Hong Nanpa loved Yoon Sim-deok but treated them both with deep friendship. As Sim-deok transitioned from an opera singer to a popular singer, she continued to care for the despondent Woojin, who fled back to Japan in despair. Reuniting at the place where they first met, the two confirmed their love for each other and committed suicide together on a ship in the Korea Strait.</p>

<p>Centered around a comic book rental store in Garibong-dong, this narrative indirectly tells the sorrow of the 1980s through the lives of various individuals who frequent the store. These include the female owner, market people, caf&eacute; waitresses, gangsters, and intellectuals who must evade the police, each leading a distorted life.</p>

<p>In a film set in Moscow, the crew is bustling about late at night as a young American director shouts to make a low-budget film in an old Russian studio. The Russian crew doesn&#39;t understand his instructions, and the actors&#39; performances are a mess. After the shoot wraps up and everyone leaves, Billy, the special effects makeup artist, returns to the studio to retrieve a forgotten item. In the empty studio, she witnesses two Russian crew members filming something. In the next moment, she is shocked to her core&mdash;they are filming a snuff film.<br /> Billy silently screams and tries to flee, but the killers notice her and give chase. Lost in the labyrinthine set, she desperately searches for an exit. Now a &ldquo;Mute Witness,&quot; Billy becomes an unwitting target of the Russian mafia and the KGB. With danger closing in from all sides, she must use all her strength and wits to escape the nightmare.</p>

<p>Sze-To Bo was once Hong Kong&#39;s top judo player, but now he wastes his days running a nightclub, consumed by alcohol and gambling. One day, a promising judo athlete named Tony challenges him to a match. Adding to his annoyance, a singer hopeful insists on performing at his nightclub. Despite his reluctance, Sze-To Bo ends up spending time with Tony and the aspiring singer. Together, they navigate various challenges and move towards their individual life goals.<br /> This film is a remake of KUROSAWA Akira&#39;s debut work, //Sanshiro Sugata//, as evidenced by the Japanese music and judo theme throughout the movie. It evokes memories of early 21st-century Hong Kong, and through the protagonist&#39;s journey back to his original dream via judo, director Johnnie TO&#39;s affection for Hong Kong is palpable. Johnnie has cited this as one of his favorite films. This year at BIFAN, audiences can enjoy the 4K remastered version along with a masterclass by director, Johnnie TO.</p>

<p>Ji Yoo, an acting major, is filming a vlog in the middle of the night, steps out to retrieve some props from the locker when a friend, who hadn&rsquo;t come along, suddenly passes by without noticing her. Seizing the opportunity to play a prank, she hides around the corner, waiting, only to receive a call from the friend who just disappeared. Confusion ensues for her. The tension she feels in the dimly lit corridor evokes an illusion akin to watching a live broadcast. This short beautifully captures the allure of suspense, showcasing the director&rsquo;s imaginative flair. Anticipation builds for the director&#39;s next work.</p>

<p>Today is a crucial day for the opening of the art museum. All preparations are complete, and the staff are awaiting approval from the director. However, the director insists on having a laughing pig&#39;s head, not just any pig&#39;s head. Daeho, in charge of the pig&#39;s head, searches every room to find a laughing pig&#39;s head. Will he be able to find one amidst the absurdities of social life? This film, portrayed with comedic and suspenseful tones, shines even brighter with the performances of actors such as YOON Kyung Ho, KIM Eui-sung, and MIN Sang-chul.</p>

<p>A woman is devotedly caring for her boyfriend, who is in a vegetative state. She begins reading a heartfelt love letter to him, confessing her love and recounting their journey from their first meeting to the moment of the accident. While the twist may be somewhat predictable, the film&#39;s strength lies in the director&#39;s ability to maintain tension and depth through the woman&#39;s narration, showcasing a high level of craftsmanship.</p>

<p>Kiyeon, Ara, and Seonju gather at Kiyeon&#39;s house to have a bridal shower party to celebrate Seonju&#39;s marriage. After arriving late, Jian tells Seonju, whom she has not seen in a long time, about the woman she met at the prayer house, and the more Jian&#39;s story continues, the more afraid Seonju becomes. Goedam Short Film Production Support 2023.</p>

<p>The protagonist, a burly man resembling action star Vin Diesel, has a strange dream where someone touches his vocal cords. The next morning, he coughs up blood and discovers that his voice has changed to the high-pitched, cute voice of a young girl, reminiscent of those in Japanese anime. Though based on a simple idea, this black comedy short offers a deep reflection on human self-esteem.</p>

<p>People are spending their time in a caf&eacute;, each in their own world. Suddenly, a bird flies into the window, startling everyone, but that&#39;s all. Only the protagonist goes outside to help the distressed bird, and a group of children gathers around her. This work clearly reflects the director&#39;s interest in human actions and desires, showcasing a compelling performance by the lead actor.</p>

<p>The title &quot;헬퍼(Hellper)&quot; refers to a person who assists, but the original title is &quot;HELLPER,&quot; meaning someone from hell. Hwanhee calls a man to her room where she is staying alone. He is a suicide assistant. They negotiate over the method and price of the suicide. This implies that suicide has become a business. The story, which seemed to end with Hwanhee&#39;s death, takes an unexpected twist, bitterly revealing the hellish aspects of the world&#39;s leading suicide nation. (HUH Namwoong) Goedam Short Film Production Support 2023.</p>

<p>While mourning her missing sister, Rayane balances helping her fisherman father and practicing for the school&#39;s music festival &mdash; provided she doesn&#39;t become an ox first, a misfortune assailing several teenagers in the area.</p>

<p>Yoon Seok takes care of his terminally ill mother in place of his father, who has gone to work at sea. Trapped in the psychology of &ldquo;attachment&rdquo; and &rdquo;anxiety,&rdquo; Yoon Seok conjures up the worst imaginations. Noted for its grotesque direction, this new horror short by director JANG Jae-woo, who was invited to BIFAN 2023 for NANI GA MIEH RU! delivers an intense nightmare you can&#39;t take your eyes off.</p>

<p>Nine-year-old Hyunseo witnesses the disappearance of the elderly neighbor who always stayed in the same place, only to find a stranger burying something in the apartment garden. Soon, a foul smell emanates from the garden. Movies are excellent mediums for preserving memories. They capture the air and sounds of irretrievable time. A graceful film that allows contemplation without forcing emotions through intense characters or storylines!</p>

<p>Two people adrift at sea are fighting a bloody battle for the survival of both themselves and their relationship.</p>

<p>Two men meet and confront each other over a woman. Visibly different in appearance, the two men engage in a continuous battle of nerves. While the woman steps out to use the restroom, the men go up to the rooftop and start arm wrestling. What makes this work unique is its portrayal of the woman&#39;s psychology through opera. The combination of sensory visuals and the actors&#39; excellent performances delight both the eyes and ears. This work offers a unique experience and is highly recommended to watch in theaters.</p>

<p>A young man is in a hurry to get somewhere when he spots a group of thugs sitting by the roadside. He hesitates for a moment but, pressed for time, decides to walk past them. As expected, they stop him and start picking a fight. This work, titled after a quote from the writings of the non-resistance thinker Adin Ballou, ironically brings to mind the lesson from Kingsman that &quot;Manners Maketh Man.&quot;</p>

<p>On the day of move-in cleaning, Jeonghye&#39;s husband disappears and the mood of the cleaners becomes increasingly strange. An uncomfortable dynamic forms between the new residents who have moved into the neighborhood and the hired cleaners. The horror that slowly builds in these relationships is eerie in that it&#39;s not just a nightmare, but a cold reality.</p>

<p>A man is driving home late at night when he suddenly feels uncomfortable and needs to use the restroom. He pulls over to the side of the road, attends to his business, and returns to his car, only to find someone unknown sitting inside. With no idea who this person is or why they&#39;re there, he feels his life is being threatened. In a situation where he&#39;s utterly helpless, he confronts terror. Can he make it back home?</p>

<p>Sang-hoon needs to complete 4000 skips to enter his home, but his pedometer breaks at 3999. Set in a parking lot, the characters include a boy, a girl, and a mother, with props like skipping ropes and a pedometer. And with a short runtime, it doesn&#39;t take much to create a captivating film. Is there a better way to describe this movie? &ldquo;This is exactly what a short film is all about!&quot;</p>

<p>On an empty road, a woman runs a small, shabby container shop, making and selling something. A police officer who patrols the road finds her suspicious and decides to keep an eye on her. Eventually, he becomes deeply infatuated with her. One day, he gets injured in a hit-and-run accident on the road he patrols, and becomes her fresh sacrifice. Although it features vampires, this short film is equipped with a lively charm like typical Taiwanese youth films, without any eeriness. Despite having different intentions toward each other, they become &ldquo;addicted&rdquo; to one another, creating a bloody yet adorable flirtation.</p>

<p>&quot;Do not leave the house. Take medicine and go to bed when the sun goes down. Do not touch locked doors.&quot; Jae-jun, who had always followed his father&#39;s rules throughout his life, begins to break them one by one as he enters puberty. The experience of living in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic subtly permeates into the film from an indirect perspective. It&#39;s a work where the director&#39;s genre exploration and ambition shine through.</p>

<p>Ha-neul, an actress, works part-time as a client at a suicide counseling center. While acting at the counseling center, there are moments when Ha-neul reveals personal stories instead of performing, which gradually helps heal his heart. The film effectively depicts Ha-neul&#39;s vague and unstable fears about the future through various situations and relationships. Despite everything, it encourages viewers to take a step forward in life, reassuring them that it&#39;s okay. The director impressively takes on the triple role of director, actress, and screenwriter.</p>

<p>Tina and her elderly dog MeeMoo discover a clinic promising human-to-pet communication. However, two sinister doctors uncover a bond between them so strong, it transcends time and space. They might be the key to something greater, but at what cost?</p>

<p>Would there be grades even for blood? A father and son, homeless, wander from motel to motel, selling collected blood to vampires. They always receive a C grade. Hae-don, after asking for the secret from a man who received an A grade, becomes troubled. Eventually, he decides to draw his son&#39;s blood. What grade will his son&#39;s blood receive? Is a person&#39;s status predetermined from birth, unchangeable through effort? The image of Hae-don and his son walking against the backdrop of high-rise apartments continues to linger in memory.</p>

<p>A former captain, suffering from post- traumatic stress disorder, lives with his daughter in a house located by the sea, where they live an isolated and harsh life. Despite the captain&rsquo;s deep desire to be a devoted father, he finds himself unable to connect with his daughter in the way that he longs to. One morning, their lives change forever when an unforeseen event occurs. Whether it proves to be a newfound source of hope or an additional burden remains to be seen.</p>

<p>Gwang-sik wants to understand Hye-ri&rsquo;s true feelings when she says she needs time. He comes across the &ldquo;Mind Hole,&rdquo; a portal that lets him enter another person&#39;s mind, and he struggles to find and solve the issues inside. Human relationships are tough because there&#39;s no way to know what&#39;s happening in someone else&#39;s mind. If only he could access the &ldquo;Mind Hole&rdquo; to find out! It&#39;s a film bursting with imaginative energy.</p>

<p>When the perpetrator is a family member, the family that should be angrier than me, and forgiving the perpetrator is also family. From the moment the family&#39;s secret is revealed, the tension surpasses any horror or thriller movie. Actress JUNG Mihyeong skillfully captures the complex psychology of the victim. The best-ever ending and title, it&#39;s perfect!</p>

<p>On a rainy, eerie late night, a taxi driver picks up a passenger. The moment the identity of the passenger is revealed, the horror genre collapses instantly. The passenger is none other than his daughter, now a ghost. He drives and chats with her as usual. They don&rsquo;t talk for long, but soon, just as she appeared, his daughter disappears again. The longing between a parent and child cannot be divided by the realms of the living and the dead. An associated screening with the Taipei Film Commission.</p>

<p>A mysterious child, Dabin shows up at the school. The kids bully Dabin for always drinking water - is Dabin crazy or wrong for being different from the rest of us? It&#39;s a beautifully shot, saturated, heartwarming, and sometimes chilling movie! The cinematography, art, VFX, and acting are outstanding.</p>

<p>In a time when all interpersonal closeness is forbidden, the hourly hotel Vaip offers wondrous rooms where guests snuggle up to devices built with great skill and let themselves fall into the perfect illusion of human touch.</p>

<p>Taxi driver Young Ho picks up Min Jung and heads towards the reservoir. Both the destination and Min Jung are mysterious. This is a confined-space psychological thriller gradually uncovering the past of the two characters, featuring a meticulously crafted plot and clever direction. The clash between a man transitioning from a somber face to a cold demeanor and a woman shifting from a cold appearance to a boiling expression creates a gripping narrative. The genre&#39;s elements make it quite intriguing.</p>

<p>Rapidly advancing self-driving technology could put couriers out of work. In order to save her son&#39;s job, Mi-sook takes action. The film creates a cute and scary portrayal of the future to come. The loving tone that runs through the film is well executed by the actress KIM Jayoung and the supporting cast. The detailed implementation of the display props is another reason to enjoy this movie.</p>

<p>Early in the morning, the phone rings, signaling that it is time to offer another sacrifice. Set in the real Welsh region of &quot;Bwlch Pen Barras,&quot; this short film, shot on 35mm film, recreates the atmosphere unique to classic cinema through its attention to detail. Although set in modern times, the film uses the Welsh language and features dragons, which frequently appear in Welsh legends, embodying the essence of folk horror.</p>

<p>Alicia, a girl who suddenly loses her sight, claims that a strange old woman is in her room, but her mother doesn&#39;t believe her. This short film, which begins with a quote from Lewis Carroll&#39;s Alice&#39;s Adventures in Wonderland, depicts the moment when a fairy tale turns into a nightmare. It features elements such as a girl connected to a world of lions and a stuffed rabbit doll with its eyes covered by cloth. Though brief, this short film exudes the atmosphere of traditional horror.</p>

<p>During the televised debate for the parliamentary elections, Yong-gu struggles to introduce himself. The reason we quickly become engrossed in this story is because it resonates closely with our reality. &quot;Let&#39;s speak our minds honestly. That&#39;s the only way we can truly know who you are. Whether you&#39;re a monster or a hero.&quot;</p>

<p>One day, a watermelon starts growing inside the belly of the older sister. Seven-year-old Jiwon believes it&#39;s because her sister swallowed a watermelon seed. It&#39;s a film that calmly and metaphorically reflects on innocence through the eyes of a child. I have no doubt the protagonist will grow into a good adult. It&#39;s delightful to see a director skillfully using long shots and moving shots.</p>

<p>Inyeob returns to her long-abandoned hometown to find her mother, who suddenly stopped contacting her. As she arrives at the distant island, rumors about a missing girl spread. Inyeob discovers a bloodied girl in her mother&#39;s wardrobe. The islanders are hostile towards Inyeob. Inyeob searches for clues to her mother&#39;s disappearance on the mysterious and isolated island. And she forms a bond with the girl who holds those clues.</p>

<p>Shunhe, a former police officer now working as a taxi driver, orders food for two. At that moment, a man in black gets into his taxi, and the murder on the radio changes to a kidnapping case involving a young girl. The man, harboring many secrets, becomes increasingly entangled in the unfolding events throughout the night. As the past incident that led to Shun-he leaving the police force comes to light, the layers of his complex emotions are conveyed with a cold and heavy intensity.</p>

<p>Jaejin is losing his sight and becoming more suspicious. And he is trying to confirm the unconfirmable. Goedam Short Film Production Support 2023.</p>

<p>A couple awakens in the night to sounds emanating from an unlikely orifice.</p>

<p>Heesu, who has a driver&#39;s license she rarely uses, reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, Younghoon, under the pretext of taking driving lessons. However, due to her inexperience, she loses control of the car and ends up in a ditch. For Heesu, love is awkward and breakups are tough. But as long as she&#39;s behind the wheel, she must keep moving forward. Look forward to the moment when Heesu&#39;s car finally makes it out of the ditch.</p>

<p>In a quaint British-style tea room, an elderly couple enjoys a leisurely afternoon playing a word puzzle game. The film begins with the husband&#39;s grumbling monologue directed at his wife. Who designed this game board, and will the expected answer soon become a twist? The camera continually only focuses on the tea room and the word puzzle on the table, keeping us intrigued about who will ultimately declare &ldquo;game over&rdquo; without a hint of boredom. The film shines with its subtle pace and the witty twists and turns, perfectly mirroring the elderly protagonists.</p>

<p>Instead of repaying a debt, Jungsik is asked to kill Jaeyoung, a woman who seems to be in a similar situation to him. Jeongsik, who has never killed a person before, sees an opportunity to kill Jaeyoung, but it&#39;s not easy to follow through. The film features a delicate performance from actor CHO Byeongkyu and a short but intense performance from actor MOON Sang-hoon.</p>

<p>In a remote rural farmhouse, an old man lives in isolation, hiding and caring for his wife who has become a zombie. One day, a man arrives seeking help for his sick son. Though the old man is reluctant, he eventually takes them in. That night, the man discovers the old man&#39;s zombie wife and tries to escape, only to realize too late that he has fallen into the old man&#39;s trap. How far is justice for protecting one&#39;s family permitted to go? The bond of family, love, or perhaps obsession, is a formidable force that even rationality cannot overcome when one is sane.</p>

<p>A police officer comes to the fortune-telling shop. The police officer asks a fortune teller to look at his and the criminal&#39;s fortunes. The film starts with the premise that &#39;A person&#39;s destiny can be known by his or her fortune.&#39; What will be the fate of the characters? Will they follow their destiny or will they go against it? The film is a humorous take on the serious subject of murder. It&#39;s fun to watch the tense battle of nerves between the psychic and the killer.</p>

<p>Despite her mother Jiyeon&#39;s objections, daughter Siwoo brings home a trial version of a robot clone of her deceased father, Dojun. Seeing the Dojun robot replicate even the smallest of Dojun&#39;s habits stirs complex emotions within her. This is a detailed and clever sci-fi family short without grandiose settings. It reminds us that while the physical presence of a lost loved one may be gone, it&#39;s important to cherish the memories we shared, no matter how small. Are we all ready to cry?</p>

<p>Nuzabar from Kazakhstan, burdened with guilt over his young son&#39;s death, flees to Korea in an attempt to escape his past. However, he eventually contemplates ending his life. In a twist of fate, he saves a young boy in danger, prompting him to confront his past emotions and seek forgiveness. This film delivers a poignant portrayal of trauma, guilt, and the profound journey toward redemption and forgiveness.</p>

<p>A donkey sets out in search of food but gets captured by humans. They skin it alive and stuff its belly with candy instead of entrails, then send it off to a child&#39;s birthday party. Meanwhile, a lonely boy, who struggles to fit in with his friends, is invited to the party and stands before the donkey-shaped pi&ntilde;ata, holding a bat. The contrast between the hollow eyes of the people and the donkey&#39;s eyes highlights the story&#39;s nature as a brutal fairy tale.</p>

<p>The daughter, an aspiring actress turned insurance planner, dreams of running a caf&eacute; with her mother in their hometown of Jeju Island. As they contemplate signing up for dementia insurance for her mother, who is beginning to show signs of the condition, an unexpected delivery from the past arrives, prompting her mother to embark on a journey back in time to meet with old friends. While the daughter envisions the future, her mother yearns for the past. Their warm familial bond in facing and overcoming dementia, alongside the unconventional idea of time travel as an escape from its difficulties and pain, make for a compelling narrative.</p>

<p>In a dystopian world, a creature attends a feast hosted by a magical fridge. Thus begins his downfall in a spiral of unbridled food consumption. Corrupted and transformed into a beast, he faces a macabre final course.</p>

<p>A pair of white flower shoes is the only keepsake left to a crippled young woman by her mistress. The housemaid, Midori, longs to keep those beautiful shoes. She is drawn into a cruel fairy tale world of horror, reminiscent of the chilling and beautiful atmosphere of the film The Handmaiden</p>

<p>Seonyoung, who starts counseling Ji-seok after causing trouble in the military, is plunged into torment as she recalls her dark past. From that moment, the boundaries between counselor Seonyoung and Ji-seok begin to blur, revealing that the nature of their entanglement is too complex for binary values to judge. The film conveys the idea that humans are indefinable beings, delivering a sense of fear and horror within the confined space of a small room without relying on overtly terrifying scenes.</p>

<p>A woman, obsessed with collecting photographs taken by coincidence, discovers that the same man appears in all of them. An unexplained malfunction occurs in the artificial intelligence, AI interfaces implanted in people&#39;s minds, leading her to encounter this man. Through a charming romance, the film explores the potential danger of artificial intelligence dominating human nature, juxtaposed with the inherent beauty of human essence.</p>

<p>Yoonhee, waiting for her best friend Soojin, goes into Soojin&#39;s house only to encounter Soojin&#39;s boyfriend, Hyunsoo. Hyunsoo, who had a fight with Soojin and asked Yoonhee to keep his presence at the house a secret, says he will leave soon but then starts washing his hair and cooking ramen. Yoonhee nervously waits for Soojin to arrive. A communication error! Eventually, Yoonhee feels like throwing her hands up and saying, &quot;Error! (Whatever!)&quot;. A cute comedy of errors about miscommunication.</p>

<p>Eun-woo works as a stenographer transcribing audio files filled with all sorts of profanity and obscenities. Despite consciously trying to cleanse her ears, she ends up with inflammation, accompanied by inexplicable noise from her surroundings. Her unique profession perpetuates a constant sense of tension in the unfolding narrative. The emergence of talented directors doubling as actors, along with the performances of the cast including voice actors, elevates the film&#39;s dignity. (HYUNG Seulwoo)</p>

<p>Dasha is conducting a seemingly complex scientific experiment. Just as Kostya visits, the experiment suddenly accelerates. An explosion occurs, opening a portal, and at that moment, something unknown takes over Kostya&#39;s hand. His hand moves and acts aggressively, regardless of Kostya&#39;s will. It&#39;s too dangerous to be considered a great discovery. To free Kostya&#39;s hand from possession, the two must work together to unravel the mystery of the portal. This work, with its standout comic sci-fi direction, is filled with delightful imagination and doesn&#39;t miss the moment when Dasha and Kostya navigate obstacles together and realize their love beyond friendship. (Kani KIM)</p>

<p>The scene unfolds from the perspective of a small animal with antennae. In a cluttered room, a woman is lethargically busy preparing to end her life. Finally, when it appears before her, her attempt to avoid it disrupts her plans. While it may seem like a humorous work that re-evaluates a familiar tiny creature always present around us, it cleverly conveys the profound realization that life can continue with just a one-simple hint. A witty piece with a light touch that delivers a heavy insight. An associated screening with the Taipei Film Commission. (Kani KIM)</p>

<p>Gwang-sik wants to understand Hye-ri&rsquo;s true feelings when she says she needs time. He comes across the &ldquo;Mind Hole,&rdquo; a portal that lets him enter another person&#39;s mind, and he struggles to find and solve the issues inside. Human relationships are tough because there&#39;s no way to know what&#39;s happening in someone else&#39;s mind. If only he could access the &ldquo;Mind Hole&rdquo; to find out! It&#39;s a film bursting with imaginative energy. (HA Myungmi)</p>

<p>An impactful short horror film that needs no dialogue. Classical music gently plays over black-and-white visuals as elegantly dressed guests fill the tables for dinner. But soon, that refined atmosphere turns bizarre. A mysterious woman catches a man&#39;s eye, and he, like the others, picks up the meat on his plate and &ldquo;devours&rdquo; it ravenously. The film unfolds to a shocking conclusion driven by the images and illusions he encounters. (Kani KIM)</p>

<p>Imagine placing the world of Blade Runner atop the old Cheonggyecheon Sewoon Arcade. Here, the recent past (popular culture of the 80s and 90s, and the PC communication and internet culture of the late 90s to early 2000s) intertwines with the near future (metaverse and technocracy). In this world, security is only about the safety of the social system, not the safety of individuals. The struggle to survive seems to converge with our contemporary reality. (NAH Ho-won)</p>

<p>Yuri heads to the victim&#39;s house for a traffic accident settlement. Victim Kihyun has something he wants to say to Yuri, but she remains silent. Just before signing the documents, Kihyun shocks everyone by committing suicide. From then on, Yuri is continuously summoned to the same place and time. Kihyun attempts suicide in various ways. Though facing the same situation, it unfolds differently for each of them. What was the message Kihyun truly wanted to hear? What choice will Yuri make? Applauding the director&#39;s imagination and wit. (KIM Hye Na)</p>

<p>The pollock drying site where Yeong Hwa works and the apartment construction site where his son Seok Hun works are bustling. As the protagonist learns of the disappearance of Jin-chul, the son of her colleague Ok-soon, she becomes increasingly suspicious of her son Seok Hun the more she tries to help Ok-soon. Featuring strong actors like KANG Ae-sim, BYUN Junghee, and KIM Beom Su, the film showcases stylish cinematography with intense close-ups and characters&#39; backs, demonstrating a refined sense of what to reveal and what to withhold. It&#39;s a movie with a striking final blow! (HYUNG Seulwoo)</p>

<p>As the one-year anniversary of the protagonist&#39;s fianc&eacute;&#39;s death approaches, people around her set her up on dates, encouraging her to meet someone new. Then, one day, she receives a phone call from her deceased fianc&eacute;. This short, directed solely through phone conversations and computer-generated images, demonstrates that sound alone can send chills down your spine. While it is highly experimental, the film possesses a compelling power that draws the audience in completely. (Kristin JI)</p>

<p>Find! My Destiny is director, JO Yeseul&#39;s second romantic comedy. In the beginning, they were both school romances, but the end was a reversal drama. A timid but secretly strong girl and a boy who looks normal on the outside but is a bit peculiar on the inside appear. The different characters give a fresh flavor to the familiar genre. I don&#39;t feel worried for the girl who is standing in the place where her fantasy of a nice boy has been shattered. (LEE Kyunghwa)</p>

<p>Have you ever tried to work at the office only to be distracted by chatty coworkers, or watched a movie in the theater interrupted by people making phone calls or talking, or sat in a cafe where loud patrons act as if they own the place? Have you ever felt the urge to do something drastic about these selfish individuals who are oblivious to those around them? If so, this short will provide you with a perfect sense of vicarious satisfaction.</p>

<p>Sanha is interrogated by a detective who comes to the school as the last witness of the &quot;mother and daughter murder case.&quot; In response, Sanha begins to talk about &quot;Muni&quot; and &quot;The Day,&quot; Goedam Short Film Production Support 2023.</p>

<p>Male seahorses are known to carry and incubate eggs in their pouches, a biological phenomenon that parallels the lives of those who, despite being born biologically female, choose to live as men. When these individuals stop hormone therapy to become pregnant, they face criticism from within the transgender community for abandoning their gender transition. This short documentary, featuring transgender parents who make choices similar to that of the seahorse, highlights true courage and the meaning of family.</p>

<p>A group of friends goes on a trip to a lakeside cabin. Mao tries to avoid mingling with the others, and Kenta, the cabin owner, has an accident and falls into the water. Soon, strange events begin to occur at the cabin. Characters in horror films often judge others based on appearances and display hypocritical behavior, and this story, while familiar, offers a fresh take on the cabin horror genre by using water as a central element. (Kristin JI)</p>

<p>In the realm of Korean melodrama, this movie established Son Ye-jin as the &lsquo;Queen of Pure Melodrama.&rsquo; Director Kwak Jae-yong, who previously discovered Gianna Jun in My Sassy Girl (2001), found a new muse in Son Ye-jin. She masterfully plays dual roles: Ji-hye, a college student in love with her theater club senior, Sang-min (Zo Insung), and her mother, Ju-hie, when she experienced her first love and looked just like Ji-hye.</p>

<p>The saying goes that to love someone is to embrace their entire universe. For Su-jin (Son Ye-jin) and Chul-soo (Jung Woo-sung), this couldn&rsquo;t be more accurate. Their relationship starts with a clumsy first meeting and evolves through a series of serendipitous encounters, them with the thread of destiny. Until recently unaware of each other&#39;s existence, they now find themselves entwined by a shared destiny. The obstacles they face are far from trivial. Su-jin, who comes from a wealthy and stable family and has a successful career as a designer, wants to marry. Chul-soo, on the other hand, hesitates because of their differences. Raised without parental support and working on construction sites while dreaming of becoming an architect, his life contrasts sharply with hers. Besides, her ability to care for those around her and always maintain a positive outlook is admirable but seems quite foreign to him, as he has lived an isolated life. Despite their differences, Su-jin&#39;s unwavering commitment to love gradually opens Chul-soo&#39;s heart. The film captures one of the extraordinary aspects of love&mdash;lovers becoming each other&#39;s savior. Together, they build a home and create memories, reconciling with their pasts and confronting the present. The story unfortunately takes a dramatic turn when her habitual forgetfulness is diagnosed as Alzheimer&#39;s, but even then, their commitment to each other remains unshaken. Attracting over 2.5 million viewers, the film has left a significant mark on the genre of Korean melodrama. Son Ye-jin and Jung Woo-sung lead the narrative with remarkable focus, avoiding the typical clich&eacute;s when portraying a story of unconditional love.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Everyone in the company liked her, whether it was the bachelor or the married man,&rdquo; Deok-hoon (Kim Joo-hyuk) says about Joo In-ah, and it likely holds true. Watching the film, it is nearly impossible to look away from In-ah (Son Ye-jin), who not only captivates the other characters but also the audience. She is a mix of stunning beauty, infectious laughter, impressive skills, unique tastes, keen intellect, and a quirky sense of humor. Deok-hoon is completely taken with her. &quot;I think I&#39;ll love you for a long time, but I can&#39;t see myself loving you for the rest of my life,&quot; she tells him. He concludes that marriage is the only way to keep her close. After many twists and turns, Deok-hoon marries In-ah. Just when he thinks his worries are over, In-ah shatters their marital bliss with a bombshell. She admits that she has found someone she loves as much as her husband and wants to marry him too. Deok-hoon is furious, but In-ah doesn&rsquo;t see a problem. &quot;I&#39;m not asking for the stars or the moon. I just want another husband,&quot; she declares.</p>

<p>Yeo-ri (Son Ye-jin) is perpetually isolated because she keeps seeing ghosts that follow her everywhere, and she doesn&rsquo;t know how to shake them off. Whenever she tries to get close to someone, the ghosts appear and scare them off. This unexplainable phenomenon drives people away, including her families, who have relocated to Finland, leaving her all alone. Given all of this, having a partner seems out of the question. The one friend she has just keeps in touch by phone, and others quickly distance themselves once they learn about her situation. One day, Jo-gu (Lee Min-ki), a nondescript street magician, notices her. Intrigued by the pale and mysterious Yeo-ri, he follows her and is inspired to create a horror-themed magic act, which becomes a huge success. While he captivates audiences with his terrifying performances, she works as part of the show&rsquo;s crew, trying her best to keep her secret.</p>

<p>The Truth Beneath marked a turning point for Son Ye-jin. Director Lee Kyoung-mi, who debuted with Crush and Blush, cast Son Ye-jin as a strange and unpredictable mother in her second film. Despite not reaching the break-even point with an audience of 250,000, the film received enthusiastic reactions for Son Ye-jin&#39;s unprecedented portrayal of maternal instincts and unsettling energy. She won numerous awards, including the Best Actress Award from the Busan Film Critics Association, Buil Film Awards, Chunsa Film Art Awards, Korean Film Producers Association, and Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, as well as the Female Performer of the Year Award.</p>

<p>The Last Princess depicts the tragic life of the last princess of the Joseon Dynasty, Princess Deok-hye, based on Kwon Bi-young&#39;s novel Princess Deokhye. Although it is a historical drama rooted in actual events and figures, it incorporates significant fictional elements, making it a &#39;factional&#39; historical film. Born as the beloved only daughter of Emperor Gojong, Princess Deok-hye was forced into exile in Japan after the fall of Joseon. There, she reunites with her former betrothed, Kim Jang-han (Park Hae-il), and plans an escape to Shanghai with her brother, Prince Imperial Yeong. However, the plan fails, and Princess Deok-hye is forced into an unwanted marriage, unable to return to the homeland that she had longed for all her life. Forgotten by people, she is eventually discovered in a Japanese mental hospital by Kim Jang-han in the 1960s.</p>

<p>Emi is a third-rate lawyer who fails at every case she takes on. Unlike her father, who was a competent lawyer, her future seems bleak until she takes on a bizarre murder case. The man accused of killing his wife claims he was paralyzed by sleep paralysis in a rural inn at the time of the crime. The only alibi he has is a samurai ghost who sat on his chest and caused the paralysis. When Emi encounters the ghost of the samurai, who died 421 years ago at the inn, she decides to bring the ghost to court as a witness.</p>

<p>In 2265 AD, aboard space colony Uzu-Shio on the decaying Galaxy Turnpike, travelers visit Sando Sando Burger. Despite their alien forms, their human-like worries are evident. Interactions among a Space Ranger, Hero, Pimp, Prostitute, Doctor, Bureaucrat, Singer, and Part-timer create a rich narrative. Get ready for Mitani&#39;s Space Fantasy!</p>

<p>A man wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of who he is or anything else. To his shock, he discovers that he is Kuroda, the Prime Minister of Japan, known for having the worst approval ratings in the country&#39;s history, reviled by the public for his relentless pursuit of money and power. After being struck by a stone during a speech and falling unconscious, Kuroda develops amnesia. To avoid chaos, his aides conceal his condition from both the public and his family. Unaware of his true identity, he must suddenly pretend to be the fully functional Prime Minister, facing a whirlwind of trials.</p>

<p>A teenage girl from a traditional family goes on a date with a pilot and ends up having sex with him. After the pilot dies in a plane crash, the girl discovers she is pregnant with his child.</p>

<p>Stripper Blaze Starr, playing herself, drives her agent--who is also her fianc&eacute;--to distraction by ignoring scheduled &quot;press functions&quot; and spending her weekends at a nudist camp.</p>

<p>Told in a quasi-documentary style, this companion piece to I Am Curious (Blue) (1968) deals with topics such as class society, non-violent resistance, sex, relationships, and tourism to Francoist Spain.</p>

<p>Three girls come to Hollywood to make it big, but find only sex, drugs, and sleaze.</p>

<p>A look at porn in the USA following the publication of the Government&#39;s 1967 Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.</p>

<p>Dusty Cole leaves her boyfriend and becomes a prostitute. Among her customers are Jimmie, an abusive man who beats her, and Bob, who promises to help her find a better kind of life.</p>

<p>Photojournalist Emanuelle is joined by an anthropologist, two female missionary workers and a treacherous hunter&#39;s party in a search for an Amazon cannibal tribe long thought extinct.</p>

<p>In 1980, the south of the Han River is teeming with people and machines exuding heat. The landscape, where new apartments symbolizing urban development stand beside old, small, temporary-built &ldquo;hamba&rdquo; houses, is awkward. A husband chasing his wife with a knife, shouting curses as she runs out of the hamba house, powerfully depicts the weary lives of people amid the reckless destruction driven by development. Inspired by HWANG Sok-yong&#39;s novel Place away from Home.</p>

<p>In her 20s, Gi-suk is a modern dancer. Her daily life, narrated by her, unfolds like a M&ouml;bius strip. The surrounding scenery, rehearsals, and practice room people preparing for performances, and the routines continuing in her own space, all blend together. Amid the endlessly repetitive life, she seeks liberation as an independent woman, challenging the era&#39;s demand for submissive female ideals.</p>

<p>In 1981, a student suicide occurs at Seoul National University, leading to the installation of insect screens in the library. These screens symbolize the bitter reality of a society that treated and monitored students like insects. The harsh atmosphere of the era, marked by the conflict between police and students, is vividly depicted through animation created by placing drawings on the floor and filming them with an 8mm camera under fluorescent lighting.</p>

<p>The young man anguishing on a train heading to the city, the young man holed up in a room writing, and the young man making counterfeit bills strikingly depict the dreams, ideals, desires, and frustrations of youth in the 1980s. Depicting the youth&#39;s psychology through illustrated diaries is also appealing. The image of young people drifting into the city, trying to keep up with the rapidly developing society, is powerful.</p>

<p>A young man from the countryside struggles to find a job in the city. Secretly in love with the boarding house owner&#39;s daughter, he feels too pitiful in his jobless state to confess his feelings. One day, after another failed job interview, he finds a wallet dropped by a drunk man and takes the girl to a caf&eacute;. This story, a poignant social satire comedy, is the original short story for KANG Wooseok feature film I Stand Every Day.</p>

<p>A man shoots himself in the head, but the bullet only grazes his forehead, leaving a scar. Everyone he meets on the street bears the same scar. When he shoots someone else, that person is left with the same mark on their forehead. This depicts a world where everyone inflicts wounds on each other, blurring the lines between perpetrator and victim. The violence of a politically exploited divided nation is portrayed through stark, cold imagery.</p>

<p>A young art student strives to achieve his dreams but faces numerous obstacles that stand in his way. The continuous succession of situations beyond his control brings him nothing but pain. Despite these hardships, the young man&#39;s relentless pursuit showcases his determination and struggle towards his ideals and dreams. As he perseveres and moves forward through the dark times, a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel will bring his dreams into reality.</p>

<p>After caring for his wife for a long time, Do-chul accidentally witnesses a murder through a hospital window. Having made eye contact with the murderer, Do-chul is chased and runs. Do-chul narrowly escapes the danger, but he gets into an argument with a prostitute he meets at a late-night bar. In the heat of the argument, he accidentally kills the prostitute and becomes a murderer himself, frantically wandering the maze once more. He roams the alleys all night, trying to find a way out, but no exit is in sight. Before he knows it, he finds himself back at the spot where he first witnessed the murder...</p>

<p>For Do-cheol (JUNG Woo-sung), he is all about boxing. However, Do-cheol loses the match against his junior and leaves the ring showing symptoms of a punch-drunk. Do-cheol meets his age, Hong -gi (LEE Jung-jae), at the private detective where he visits for a job. If boxing is everything for Do-cheol, it is money for Hong-gi. He is willing to do whatever it takes to make money. As he continues to cheat and lie, getting into trouble with a local gang, Do-cheol gets caught up in the vortex. The two people, who seemed totally unlikely to get along, are now bound to have a relationship that can only be explained by friendship. And Do-cheol tries to do the boxing again. JUNG Woo-sung starring in the film The Asphalt Man (1995) and Beat (1997) completes the epic of youth in this film by the native honesty of Jung Woosung with the spirit of no compromise. JUNG Woo-sung and LEE Jung-jae made a wonderful harmony with each other in the buddy film, City of the Rising Sun, where the collaboration is particularly important as well as the attractions of the two characters, Do-cheol and Hong-gi. The friendship between the two actors has continued after this film. (JEONG Ji-hye)</p>

<p>The Goryeo warriors who companied the Ming Dynasty delegation are on their way of banishment for suspicion of being spies. In the meantime, the Ming army is completely destroyed by the Won and only the envoys are left. Choi Jung (Joo Jin-mo), a young general of Goryeo, orders that the delegation should return to Goryeo. Lee Jee-hun (Song Jae-ho), a governor who is dissentient with Choi Jung, predicts his death and liberats his escort, Yeo Sol (Jung Woo-sung) from the state of a slave. The impoverished delegation arrives at a boat and meets with the Won army who kidnapped the Ming Princess Puyong (Zhang Ziyi). Choi Jung changes his plan to save the princess and wants to justify his cause. Meanwhile, Yeo Sol, with his excellent spear skill, faces another crisis due to the death of the governor Lee Jee-hun and her encounter with Princess Puyong. Jung Woo-sung completes Yeo Sol&rsquo;s action with a simple but powerful skill that accurately hits the opponent with a long spear. Also notable are the use of the camera by Kim Hyung-koo, Cinematographer, and the co-work of the martial arts director Chung Doo-hong, who created the scene of Sapung Valley. The newly restored 4K remastered version will be showcased for the first time in BIFAN 2024.</p>

<p>To celebrate the launch of the Samsung Galaxy 24, a series of short film commercials has been produced. These films, directed by HAN Jun-hee and showcase the charming performance of actress Ko Minsi across four different genres.</p>

<p>Nebbish Seymour Krelboind works for the ultra-cheap Gravis Mushnick at his skid row floral shop. He&#39;s infatuated with his coworker, Audrey, but knows he&#39;ll never be able to win her over&mdash;that is, until he grows a special plant he calls Audrey, Jr. The only downside? Audrey, Jr.&#39;s ability to talk and its hunger for human blood!</p>

<p>Following her mother&rsquo;s death, manga artist Soriya travels to her ancestral home in Phnom Penh, with hopes of reconnecting with her distant family and using the visit as inspiration for her work. All goes well initially. Renting an apartment in Metta, a rundown Khmer Rouge-era housing complex, her visit to her maternal relatives finds her welcomed with open arms. But Soriya&rsquo;s waking hours in the apartment and its surroundings are punctuated by terrifying, bloody visions, almost as though she were a conduit for horrors of the past wanting to seep into the present.</p>

<p>In the early 19th century, somewhere in the Confederation of the Rhine, a French soldier Andre is rescued by a mysterious Helene, who vanishes almost immediately. While searching for her, Andre uncovers secrets involving Baron von Leppe, his wife Liza, and the village witch Katrina. In the early 1960s, Roger Corman was riding a wave of success with American International Pictures, producing a series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations like The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961). However, Corman grew weary of the repetitive Poe series and sought new material while adhering to his notorious guerrilla-style, resourceful filmmaking, which led to the production of The Terror. As Corman and Jack Nicholson would later recall, the production was chaotic from start to finish. Vincent Price, who frequently starred in the Poe series, was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, so Boris Karloff completed his scenes in just two days. Directors from Corman&#39;s gang, including Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill, and even Nicholson himself, took turns at the helm before Corman ultimately finished the film.</p>

<p>Jess is a woman on the run, desperate to cross the Canadian border to escape her past. On her tail is Elsa, a resourceful agent, whose recent life-altering diagnosis leaves her one step behind. As their chase narrows to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, holes in Elsa&rsquo;s investigation begin to fill with fresh bodies. Soon the pursuit spirals toward its harrowing confrontation between the two women, in search of meaning and redemption, on the razor&rsquo;s edge of catastrophe.</p>