[Bucheon Choice World: Features]
Best of Bucheon | Leviticus (Director: Adrian CHIARELLA)
Best Director Choice | Obsession (Director: Curry BARKER)
Jury’s Choice | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Director: Jane SCHOENBRUN)
¡Ø Special Mention | The Night (Gaua) (Director: Paul URKIJO ALIJO)
Audience Award | Leviticus (Director: Adrian CHIARELLA)

[Bucheon Choice Korean: Features]
Best of Bucheon | Knock (Director: JEONG Beom)
Best Director Choice | The Only Child in the Butchery (Director: YOO Hyoung-joon)
KFAA Best Actors | Yoon In-ah (Knock), Hong Seo-baek (Smile Charles)
¡Ø Special Mention | Jeong I-ju (Savon) and Jeong Hyeong-seok (The Only Child in the Butchery)
SHOWBOX Audience Award | Knock (Director: JEONG Beom)
NongHyup Distribution Award | Company Sports Day (Director: LEE Yong-sun), Smile Charles (Director: OH Young-doo)
Hive Filmworks International Distribution Award | Savon (Director: LEE Jun-sup), Psyche (Director: NAM Ji-eun)

Méliès International Festivals Federation(MIFF) Award for Best Asian Film | The Fertilizer Home (Director: JEONG Hyo-jung)
FIPRESCI Award | The Night (Gaua) (Director: Paul URKIJO ALIJO)
NETPAC Award | Knock (Director: JEONG Beom)
Children’s Fantastic Choice Award | The Invisibles (Director: TAKEBAYASHI Ryo)


¡á Commentary

[Bucheon Choice World: Features]
This year’s selected works went beyond mere mastery of genre, demonstrating how horror and fantasy can serve as powerful tools for exploring the depths of human experience and society. By subverting familiar conventions, these films engage with themes of love and desire, oppression, identity, violence, and a deep passion for cinema itself—each in its own distinct way—while opening up new possibilities for genre filmmaking. In particular, the award-winning works were distinguished by their strong individuality and exceptional directorial vision, each establishing a distinctive cinematic language of its own. They were highly acclaimed for achieving both the visceral pleasures of genre cinema and a profound artistic depth. We believe these films not only reflect the current landscape of genre cinema, but also represent a significant achievement that points to an even more compelling future for the genre.

¢º Best of Bucheon | Leviticus (Director: Adrian CHIARELLA)
This film opens up striking new possibilities for queer horror. Built on the visceral premise that “a being wearing the face of the one you love has come to kill you,” it traces the transformation of love into terror through a bold and highly original cinematic language. Astonishingly accomplished in every respect for a feature directorial debut, the film demonstrates a masterful level of craft, control, and precision. Furthermore, its open ending extends the horror far beyond the screen, leaving lingering, unsettling questions long after the credits roll. Ultimately, it stands as a powerful testament to horror’s unique capacity to expose our deepest wounds and most dangerous truths.

¢º Best Director Choice | Obsession (Director: Curry BARKER)
Obsession breathes fresh life into a plot we’ve seen a thousand times before in horror genre. Driven by precise direction, the terror doesn’t stem from any ghost or demon, but rather from a phenomenal performance by Inde Navarrette. Moreover, it serves as a sharp allegory for toxic relationships, one that is profoundly tragic at the same time.

¢º Jury’s Choice | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Director: Jane SCHOENBRUN)
A young director, captivated by the sexual allure of 1980s slasher films, yearns for that world and desires to embody it herself. Through her journey, the film depicts the liberation of desire and the significance of film in human existence. Its unique perspective is truly distinctive. The film displays an intense attachment to brutal cinematic expression. And the protagonist, saved and empowered by such films, reflects the "longing for cinema" that undoubtedly exists within us all. Film once required a certain kind of magic. In this modern age of digitalization, where all forms of expression are possible, there's a poignant yearning to rediscover that lost magic—a feeling that this film may have been born from such a heartfelt desire.

¡Ø Special Mention | The Night (Gaua) (Director: Paul URKIJO ALIJO)
Desire is portrayed not merely as something physical, but as a profound force intertwined with identity, repression, ritual, and freedom. This lends the film a rich emotional and symbolic depth that lingers long after it ends. Blending a fairy-tale sensibility with a haunting visual style, The Night (Gaua) creates an experience that feels both mythical and deeply human. Deeply embedded in Basque culture and the darker chapters of its history with Catholicism, the film stands out for its atmospheric power and cultural resonance.

¢º Audience Award | Leviticus (Director: Adrian CHIARELLA)


[Bucheon Choice Korean: Features]
Going beyond genre appeal and cinematic excellence, this year's award-winning works left a powerful impression through their profound insights into humanity and society. By boldly subverting familiar genre conventions in their own distinctive ways, these films achieved a compelling synthesis of meticulous direction, masterful narrative control, and exceptional performances, creating works of remarkable power. The actors, in particular, sustained the emotional force of each film from beginning to end, breathing life into their characters through nuanced performances and commanding screen presence. The jury applauds the creative courage of the filmmakers who remained true to their unique cinematic language, and celebrates the remarkable achievements of the directors, actors, and crew members who brought those visions to life.

¢º Best of Bucheon | Knock (Director: JEONG Beom)
From the very moment the cameras begin rolling to document Facility No. 6 on the brink of closure, the film quietly begins to defy the audience's expectations. What starts as an intimate portrait of a confined space and a handful of individuals steadily broadens into a structural critique of society, persistently questioning whether what we believed to be true was ever the truth at all. Navigating the fraught terrain between truth and fact, the film displays remarkable assurance in confronting viewers with the ethical burden of journalism. Guided by Director Jeong Beom's assured direction and elevated by the outstanding ensemble performances of its cast, it emerges as a work of exceptional cinematic accomplishment.

¢º Best Director Choice | The Only Child in the Butchery (Director: YOO Hyoung-joon)
A film defined by bold choices and striking precision, this work exemplifies the sharp command of genre befitting BIFAN. Its masterful narrative control holds a complex plot in a tight grip amid mounting suspense, while the deft infusion of pitch-black humor—reminiscent of the Coen Brothers’ early films—into a weighty revenge thriller proves especially distinctive. The jury applauds the director for carrying a singular cinematic vision through to the very end.

¢º KFAA Best Actors | Yoon In-ah (Knock), Hong Seo-baek (Smile Charles)
In Knock, Yoon In-ah delivers a deeply memorable performance. From her first appearance to the final moment, every word, gesture, and expression makes us feel as though we are witnessing the life of a real person unfold, creating a character of remarkable depth and humanity. In Smile Charles, Hong Seo-baek commands such a powerful presence that it becomes nearly impossible to separate the actor from the film itself. With a fearless, intuitive performance that shows no trace of self-consciousness before the camera, he creates a truly irreplaceable character.

¡Ø Special Mention | JUNG Yi-ju (Savon) and Jeong Hyeong-seok (The Only Child in the Butchery)
JUNG Yi-ju in Savon and Jeong Hyeong-seok in The Only Child in the Butchery. Their nuanced and striking performances bring a distinctive vitality to their respective films.

¢º SHOWBOX Audience Award | Knock (Director: JEONG Beom)

¢º Hive Filmworks International Distribution Award | Savon (Director: LEE Jun-sup), Psyche (Director: NAM Ji-eun)

¢º NongHyup Distribution Award | Company Sports Day (Director: LEE Yong-sun), Smile Charles (Director: OH Young-doo)
Made by a crew of just three people, Smile Charles is a micro-budget film that clearly reflects the director’s tenacity. What begins as an unassuming watch lingers long after the credits roll, leaving a lasting impression. Above all, it is a film shaped by the heartfelt sincerity of its creators. ÀåÆí µ¶¸³ ¾Ö´Ï¸ÞÀ̼ÇÀÌ ¸¸µé¾îÁö±â ½±Áö ¾ÊÀº »óȲ¿¡¼­, Company Sports Day stands as a rare and valuable work. By drawing on subject matter seldom explored in animation and bringing it to life with wit and a light touch, the film marks a distinctive achievement.

¢º Méliès International Festivals Federation(MIFF) Award for Best Asian Film | The Fertilizer Home (Director: JEONG Hyo-jung)
The award goes to a film that combines classic genre tropes with the gravity of timely environmental issues. While the two lead actresses give excellent performances at the heart of the film, it is the ensemble cast around them that provide depth and nuance. The first-time director keeps a tight control over the story and reserves the gore for the bloody finale.

¢º FIPRESCI Award | The Night (Gaua) (Director: Paul URKIJO ALIJO)
For its skillful depiction for the struggle of independence as individuals and the Basque culture against the absurdity of authority, and its rich imagery that powerfully blends history with fable, we are proud to present the FIPRESCI Award to The Night (Gaua).

¢º NETPAC Award | Knock (Director: JEONG Beom)
For its searching use of the documentary-within-the-film form, Knock turns the camera back on the act of looking itself. With piercing humanity, it attends to vulnerable lives while refusing the comfort of innocent spectatorship. It offers a critique of screen cultures that turn suffering into spectacle and make viewers complicit in what media claims only to observe.

¢º Children’s Fantastic Choice Award | The Invisibles (Director: TAKEBAYASHI Ryo)
Through the journey of Hikari, a girl born invisible, and her family, this film gently illuminates the meaning of existence and the essence of human connection. As they come to understand and connect with one another not through outward appearances, but through the unseen truths of the heart, the film transcends moments of laughter and tears, leaving a profound and lasting impression.