Pifan and NAFF attract big names

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Festival News

The 16th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) 부천국제판타스틱영화제 (19-29 Jul 2012) opened last night with the world premiere of local horror omnibus Horror Stories 무서운 이야기.

The festival held in the outskirts of Seoul describes itself as Asia's largest genre film festival. It includes the world's only project market dedicated to raising financing for genre films, within the umbrella of the Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) 아시아 판타스틱 제작네트워크, this year celebrating its 5th anniversary.

Despite its limited budget, compared to October's better known Busan International Film Festival 부산국제영화제, PiFan still punches above its weight when it comes to industry guests. NAFF alone this year has more than 70 guests from outside South Korea, with a particular emphasis on the US, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Asian industry guests include representatives of Hong Kong's Media Asia Group Holdings Ltd 寰亞傳媒集團有限公司, Edko Films Ltd 安樂影片有限公司, Golden Network Asia Ltd 嘉聯娛樂亞洲有限公司 and Irresistible Films 萬誘引力電影; Japan's Fuji Television Network Inc フジテレビジョン and Toho Co Ltd 東宝; Thailand's Sahamongkolfilm International Co Ltd สหมงคลฟิล์ม อินเตอร์เนชั่นแนล and Phranakorn Film Co Ltd พระนครฟิล์ม; Australia's Odin's Eye Entertainment; and Taiwan's Maxima Capital Management Inc 麥實國際管理顧問有限公司.

Guests walking the festival's opening night red carpet included Michelle CHEN 陳妍希, PARK Hae-il 박해일 | 朴海日, OTANI Ryohei 大谷慶彦, GANG Su-yeon 강수연 | 姜受延, AN Seong-gi 안성기 | 安聖基 and producer Jaime Shim.

A new prize – the Producers' Choice Award — was given during the opening ceremony to HA Jeong-u 하정우 | 河正佑 and HA Ji-won 하지원 | 河智苑, the highest profile stars of the evening. Decided on by Korea Film Producers Association (KFPA) and the Producers Guild of Korea 한국영화프로듀서조합, the prizes named the recipients as actor and actress of the year.

Indonesia comes under special attention this year with a spotlight on the country in the project market, and with three films in the festival programme, including the world premiere of omnibus Hi5teria and Upi's Shackled Belenggu, the first Indonesian film in the festival's competition in three years.

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