24th BIFAN to Open with WHISPERING CORRIDORS 6

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24th BIFAN to Open with WHISPERING CORRIDORS 6

Jun 26, 2020

Writer by Pierce Conran
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Hybrid Event Planned for July in Bucheon

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) will return next month and opening this year’s 24th edition on July 9 will be WHISPERING CORRIDORS 6: THE HUMMING (2019), the sixth entry in the long-running Korean horror franchise. This summer’s BIFAN will be a hybrid event mixing physical screenings and an online showcase.

Next month’s festival will feature 174 films from 42 countries, including 71 world premieres. Among those titles, 69 are being made available online through a special BIFAN showcase on the local streaming service WATCHA. Festival organizers indicated that various other programs, such as lectures by directors, would also be made available online. Physical screenings will take place for the public across eight screens in Bucheon during the eight-day festival, under strict social distancing guidelines.

The Whispering Corridors franchise, which is almost as old as BIFAN, kicked off in 1998 and has introduced major directors such as MIN Kyu-dong (All About My Wife, 2012) and KIM Tae-yong (Late Autumn, 2011), and stars like KONG Hyo-jin (Crazy Romance, 2019) and KIM Ok-vin (Thirst, 2009) to the industry during the last two decades. Each instalment features a new story, focusing on students in all-girls high schools tormented by a spirit on the premises.

The latest entry, which comes 11 years after A Blood Pledge (2009), is the directing debut of LEE Mi-young, a veteran producer with credits stretching from Art Museum by the Zoo (1998) to The Truth Beneath (2016). The film features KIM Seo-hyung (The Villainess, 2017) as a woman who takes a job as a principal at the same school she attended as a youth.

Other notable titles in the selection this year include all eight parts of the anthology TV series SF8, which will have its world premiere in Bucheon. Directors include previously mentioned Whispering Corridors alumnus MIN Kyu-dong, as well as ROH Deok (Very Ordinary Couple, 2013), HAN Ka-ram (Our Body, 2019) and JANG Cheol-soo (Bedevilled, 2010). Stars include MOON So-ri (A Good Lawyer’s Wife, 2003), LEE Yoo-young (Yourself and Yours, 2016) and LEE Dong-hwi (Extreme Job, 2019).

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