Held from July 4 through July 14 at venues in the Seoul satellite city of Bucheon, the 28th edition of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) screened films primarily in the fantasy, sci-fi and horror genres. Both shorts and features, animation and live-action films were on the lineup.
A central focus of this year’s Bifan was the advent of generative AI, as symbolized by the festival’s “identity film” shown before each screening. Directed by Hansl von Kwon, the 50-second film paid homage to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” with a H-shaped monolith that metamorphosed into various forms. An AI female voice assured viewers that “I’m just your mirror.”
This assurance was not completely convincing: The film’s AI images had an innate creepiness that made them an unlikely “mirror” for a warm-hearted human drama.