‘The Ugly Stepsister’ Scoops Best Of Bucheon Award At BIFAN
Best Director went to 'Reflection In A Dead Diamond', directed by Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet.
The Ugly Stepsister, directed by Norway’s Emilie Blichfeldt, won both the Best Of Bucheon Award and the Audience Award at this year’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in South Korea, which ran July 3-13.
A body horror tale set against the Cinderella myth, the film is a co-production between Norway, Sweden, Poland and Denmark and premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival in the Midnight section. It follows a woman’s desperate attempts to catch the prince's eye through extreme body modification including plastic surgery and diets.
The jury stated: “This film boldly satirises human nature by fusing grotesque body horror into the framework of the classic Cinderella narrative. The protagonist Elvira’s physical and emotional suffering starkly reveals the destructiveness and violence of lookism in a society where appearance equates to class and power, resonating deeply with contemporary audiences.”
Best Director at the festival went to Reflection In A Dead Diamond, directed by Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet, a homage to the Euro-spy genre which premiered at this year’s Berlin film festival. Set on the French Riveriera, the film follows a retired spy who is pulled into the case of a missing woman.
The Jury’s Choice Award went to US-Australia horror Together, directed by Michael Shanks, which also premiered in Sundance and is being released in the US by Neon. The jury praised the film for its combination of supernatural body horror and romantic comedy.
In the Korean Fantastic: Features section, Best Korean Fantastic Film went to Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls And School Ghost 2, directed by Kim Min-ha, while Best Director went to Kim Bo-sol’s The Square.
Korean Fantastic Actors Awards were presented to Han Sun-hwa for Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls And School Ghost 2 and Kwon Yong-geun for Classroom Delusions. A Special Mention was awarded to Yang Mal-bok for Manok, directed by Lee Yu-jin, which also won the Korean Fantastic Audience Award. Seo Eun-young’s Classroom Delusions also won both the Nonghyup Distribution Award and the Watcha’s Pick for Korean Fantastic.
Among other winners at the festival, the Mèliés International Festivals Federation Award was presented to Yoo Ha’s I Kill U; the NETPAC Award went to Young & Fine, directed by Japan’s Toshiya Kominami; and the Odd Family Award went to Bookworm, from New Zealand’s Ant Timpson.
Earlier in the week, BIFAN’s NAFF Project Market handed out awards to projects including Brilliant Melody from the Philippines’ Carlo Francisco Manatad. (See here for the full list of NAFF winners).
BIFAN closed with a screening of family drama The Go-To Restaurant, directed by South Korea’s Han Jay, marking the first time a local film has closed the festival in five years.
