Renowned Korean actor Son Yi-jin received a standing ovation as he greeted fans and kicked off the red carpet ceremony at the opening ceremony of the Bokyun International Fantastic Film Festival (Bae Fan) on Thursday. The star of “A Moment to Remember” and “April Snow,” Beta is the subject of the festival's previous installment.
But even as the festival takes a well-deserved, if conventional, look back at Son's 23-year career, this year's main focus of the event is the direction artificial intelligence (AI) is taking the film industry. .
“The core issue of this year's BIFAN is BIFAN + AI. Generative AI can be used as an innovative and revolutionary tool to fill the world with talent through minimal costs. I believe that generative AI will usher in an era of equal competition, where imagination, not budget size, is the most important factor,” said festival director Shin Chul. “BiFan aims to be a pioneer in creating an incubator where our creators can take their ideas to the world without being held back by budget constraints.”
Its AI competition's 15 titles are partially drawn from specialized AI festivals and include four films from home country South Korea: Hansl Von Kwon's “One More Pumpkin,” which won the Dubai AI Film Festival, Grand in the Park; Prize and Audience Award won. “Under the Sign of the Moon” by Sungwon, “Snowfall” by Bae Joonun and “Last View” by Cha Sehun. All four showcase the picture and sound perfection that advanced AI technology can implement today, and are characterized by brilliant imagination, fresh screenplay, and realization of characters,” said Mele. KRW15 million ($11,000) in prizes to choose from. will be judged by a (human) jury consisting of Freddie Alessi, Kim Tae-yong, Sten-Christian Salvier and Shin.
Spanning three days, the accompanying AI International Conference will feature keynote speeches by: Professor Li Jinjun, a pioneer in new media art, KAIST's first full-time art faculty member, and inaugural director of the KAIST Art Museum; Salvier, head of Cannes Next at the Cannes Film Festival; artist and curator Alici; and Curious Refuge director Dave Clark.
The opening night proceedings – including speeches by local officials and bouquets for VIP guests – were fairly traditional, although organizers said their video was directed by ID AI.
Rose Glass' “Love Lies Bleeding” stars Anna Baryshnikov, who debuted in Berlin and is now set to headline BiFan's opening night introduction. After praising the screenplay, he described the finished film as “very, very strange”. This elicited a chuckle from audience members who were familiar with BiFan's longtime “Stay Strange” chant.
A lot of big talent was spotted on the red carpet. They include: Hong Kong director Johnny To; Bob Layton, comic book and screenwriter on “Iron Man,” “Hercules” and co-founder of Valiant Comics; Father of Japanese horror Nakata Hideo, in town for his latest film “Stolen Identity: The Last Hacker” with Japanese star Yagira Yuya in town with “A Conviction of Marriage” and Chinese director Chen Deming, selected by BiFan. Director “Spontaneous.”
Industry names include: Hollywood producer and academic Chris Lee; Roger Garcia (this year's dean of BiFan's academic program); Alan Kim and Park Kwang-soo, respectively, Busan Festival's new market chief and festival chairman; Han Sang Joon, recently appointed chairman of the Korean Film Council; industry consultant Fred Sui; Sabrina Barracetti and Thomas Bertacche of Udine's Far East Film Festival and Tokyo-based Emmanuel Pisarra of Unifrance.
The festival will conclude with the screening of the Hong Kong box office record-breaking film “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”.
BiFan