Puchon Fantasy Film Fest Promises Access for All

July 3, 2006

The 10th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan will be held from July 13 through 22 in Bucheon, as the town in Gyeonggi Province is also spelled. The festival will show some 150 features and 100 shorts from 35 countries.

The opening film is "Ghost Theater" directed by Jeon Kye-soo. A fantasy musical about ghosts who travel in real and surreal worlds, it was picked for its unique subject matter and imaginative plot. "Isabella," a Hong Kong movie by Pang Ho Cheung, will close the festival.

The festival offers programs such as "Puchon Choice," the competition section for feature and short fantastic films, "World Fantastic Cinema," "Fantastic Short Films," and a "Family Section."

Other programs include "Korean Directors’ Cut," in which Korean movies released in truncated form will be shown as their makers intended them. An "Italian Horror Film Special" section, a somewhat incongruous Audrey Hepburn retrospective and a retrospective dedicated to the Japanese "king of cult" Ishii Teruo, who died last year, look abroad.

The organizers say they hope to make this an event where the audience is the top priority, promising a fun-filled festival accessible to everyone. The theme is "Love, Fantasy and Adventure."

Tickets cost W10,000(US$1=W945) for opening and closing screenings, W5,000 for general screenings, and W4,000 for first screenings of the day. For online reservation, it is necessary to subscribe to the festival website at http://ticket.pifan.com. For more information, call at 032-345-6313.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200607/200607030014.html