Fantastic Puchon fest

This year's annual Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) will thrill and chill from 16 July. Until the curtains will be drawn on 26 July, 13th PiFan will be exploring the themes love, fantasy, and adventure.
 
Puchon, only just outside of west Seoul and connected by subway and buses, will host 202 films from 41 countries for film enthusiasts. PiFan secured 38 world premières and 26 international premières.
 
Japanese film M.W. is set to open PiFan. Iwamoto Hitashi directed the revenge story which is based on Tezuka Osamu's work. Indonesian martial arts film by Gareth Huw Evans Merantau has the honor to close PiFan in 2009.
 
PiFan's core is the World cinema section, reserved for upcoming directors. This section has also been designated as the playground for upcoming independent Korean directors. Fanta masters will this year centre around vampire films. Park Chan-wook's Festival de Cannes 2009's Jury prize winner "Thirst", and Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers feature in this special section.
 
PiFan selected a wide range of films from family-friendly to hardcore slasher films, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, animation, and martial arts films.
 
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) are to hold the KOFIC Filmmakers' Development Lab (FDL) 2009 at the 13th PiFan between 16 July and 22 July. FDL enables selected filmmakers to learn from industry professionals. This year participants are: Han Ji-seung (Papa), Kim Ji-hwan (Soul Mate), Ted CHUNG (Red Lines), LEE Kyung-ja (The Calling), and SIM Sou-yun (The Tricky Happenings of Wonder).
 
PiFan has established itself as an internationally leading fantasy film festival since its birth in 1997. PiFan announces on its website to prepare another leap forward at this year's 13th edition, promising "a fantastic journey of eleven days".
 
Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)