The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Bucheon City, South Korea—Despite the rains and dark clouds, the prestigious annual Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) rolled in on the big grounds of the Bucheon City Hall Lawn last Thursday night.
Formerly and also known as Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan), this year’s BIFAn was marked with the participation of Filipino or Filipino-bred contingents in various sections.
Even if international celebrities hogged the limelight like veteran Korean actor Choi Min Sik who was given a retro tribute by the fest and compatriot thespian Ahn Sung-ki with hallyu idols Park Joong-hoon, Seo Hyun-woo and Park Ha-seon; celebrated Malaysian filmmaker Amanda Nell EU; Taiwanese young star Kai Ko, American director Ari Aster, among others, the Philippine delegation of stars wasn’t lagging behind in their stellar participation.
Leading the pack was the new but promising director Kenneth Dagatan who represented his film “In My Mother’s Skin” together with actors of the movie Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Felicity Kyle with their producers Bianca Balbuena and Bradley Liew.
The Filipino team was applauded when they took the red carpet from the City Hall to the giant tent perched adjacent to the huge local government edifice.
Even during the screening of the film at the CGV Cinema at the heart of the city, the cast and creatives of the project were again met with applause.
“In My Mother’s Skin” which was one of the featured films of the fest tells of a story of Tala (Felicity Kyle), a young girl, elder than her brother who gives to the whims and tempting offers of the deceiving faces of a fairy (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) just to heal her mysteriously ailing mom (Beauty Gonzales) only to end up a victim of a supernatural black power which transforms the mother into a monster of a flesh-eating witch.
As a sub-story, a greedy village fortune hunter (Ronnie Lazaro) wants to get the bars of gold in the possession of Tala’s dad (Arnold Reyes) who leaves his family behind as a guerilla ironically accused of being a Japanese collaborator during the war.
While the cat, err, man of the house is away, the bloody encounters between forces of good (the pure heart of Tala) and evil (the rats, devil fowl, vermin, devious imp, the possessed mom etc.—take place until the come backing father and all the members of the family except Tala didn’t survive the ordeal of the supernatural clashes.
Outside BIFAN, though, “In My Mother’s Skin” was hailed at Sundance, Rotterdam and other film fests but it was in fantastic film fest where it all began as an entry to the highly competitive It Project, a film market dedicated to deserving filmmakers of development projects with corresponding cash prizes and post-production support.
No wonder these Filipinos were warmly welcomed at BIFAN.
Another Filipino with Malaysian paternal blood, John Gordon, whose mom is a native of Davao City (but the family is now settled in Malaysia) was a standout not only in the red carpet at the 2023 BIFAN kickoff but as one of the students of the pioneering and game changing Fantastic Film School (FFS) of the BIFAN’s Big Industry Gathering (B.I.G.) as well.
FFS has produced award-winning and cutting edge and brilliant filmmakers as Dagatan.
Too bad, young and ideal Filipino filmmaker Gabriela Serrano and her producer Gale Osorio didn’t make it to the parade of stars as their flight was delayed, otherwise, they could also steal the thunder from other important figures on the opening night.
This writer who is writing for seven years the annual Philippine Cinema Report of the “Made in Asia” booklet, a compendium of the economic matrix of filmmaking in various countries in Asia like India, Singapore, Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia, Central Asia and of course, the Philippines.
I was also part of the red carpet walk as part of the Made in Asia component but I was busy interviewing Jasmine and Felicity at the back stage so I missed the glitz and glam exposure.
Never mind.
My fellow Filipinos were more significant in their public appearances at the 2023 BIFAN.