'Leviticus', 'Knock' Win Best Of Bucheon & Audience Awards At Korea’s BIFAN Fest
Other winners included Best Director awards for Curry Barker's Obsession and Yoo Hyoung-joon's The Only Child In The Butchery.
Australian filmmaker Adrian Chiarella’s Leviticus took home both the Best Film Award in the Bucheon Choice World: Features competition and the Audience Award at this year’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN, July 2-12) in South Korea.
The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival, follows two teenagers who become tormented by a violent supernatural entity, summoned by their religious community, that takes the form of the person they desire most – each other. The jury praised the film as a film that “opens up striking new possibilities for queer horror.”
Best Director went to US filmmaker Curry Barker for global horror hit Obsession, while the Jury’s Choice award was presented to Jane Schoenbrum’s US indie film Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, which premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival as the opening film in Un Certain Regard. A Special Mention went to Basque-language The Night (Gaua), directed by Paul Urkijo Alijo, which also won the Fipresci award.
In the Bucheon Choice Korean: Feature competition, Jeong Beom’s Knock scooped the Best Of Bucheon Award, the Showbox Audience Award, an acting award for Yoon In-Ah and the Netpac Award. The film revolves around a documentary crew that discovers a gang grooming young girls in a rural rehabilitation centre.
Best director went to Yoo Hyoung-joon for The Only Child In The Butchery, which also picked up a Special Mention for Jeong Hyeong-seok’s performance, while an acting award also went to Hong Seo-baek for Smile Charles and Jung Yi-ju picked up a Special Mention for Savon. [See below for full list of award winners].
The Buchoen Choice World jury included Thai director Bangjong Pisanthanakun; Byun Seung-min, CEO of Korea’s Climax Studio; Indonesian actress Asmara Abigail, and Japanese director Isao Yukisada. The jury for the Bucheon Choice Korean competition included producer Kim Se-hoon, actress Jung Ha-dam, and director Pil Gam-sung.
The festival also has a competition for films made with AI, which gave its top prize to Cornered, directed by Sao Paolo-based filmmakers Odair Faleco and Davi Moori. The TimeTree Best Technical Achievement went to Lim Ye-jun’s Big Ball, which was produced through BIFAN’s Fantastic Film School: Creator Course.
BIFAN, which was celebrating its 30th edition this year, hosted a series of masterclasses and talks focusing on classic genre films, which included Takashi Miike talking about Ichi The Killer; director Choi Dong-hoon and actor Yoo Hae-jin (Tazza: The High Rollers); actors Ryu Seung-ryong and Gong Myung (Extreme Job); and actress Tiffany Young (Niko). Guests attending the opening ceremony on July 2 included Yuen Woo Ping, Fan Bingbing, Isabelle Huppert and Josie Ho.
BIFAN 2026 FULL LIST OF WINNERS:
BUCHEON CHOICE WORLD: FEATURES
Best Of Bucheon: Leviticus, dir: Adrian Chiarella
Best Director Choice: Obsession, dir: Curry Barker
Jury’s Choice: Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, dir: Jane Schoenbrun
Special Mention: The Night (Gaua), dir: Paul Urkijo Alijo
Audience Award: Leviticus, dir: Adrian Chiarella
BUCHEON CHOICE KOREAN: FEATURES
Best Of Bucheon: Knock, dir: Jeong Beom
Best Director Choice: The Only Child In The Butchery, dir: Yoo Hyoung-Joon
KFAA Best Actors: Yoon In-Ah (Knock) & Hong Seo-Baek (Smile Charles)
Special Mention: Jung Yi-Ju (Savon) & Jeong Hyeong-Seok (The Only Child In The Butchery)
Showbox Audience Award: Knock, dir: Jeong Beom
OTHER JURIES:
Nonghyup Distribution Award:
Company Sports Day, dir: Lee Yong-Sun
Smile Charles, dir: Oh Young-Doo
Hive Filmworks International Distribution Award:
Savon, dir: Lee Jun-Sup
Psyche, dir: Nam Ji-Eun
Méliès International Festivals Federation Award For Best Asian Film: The Fertilizer Home, dir: Jeong Hyo-Jung
Fipresci Award: The Night (Gaua), dir: Paul Urkijo Alijo
Netpac Award: Knock, dir: Jeong Beom
Children’s Fantastic Choice Award: The Invisibles, dir: Takebayashi Ryo
BUCHEON CHOICE WORLD: SHORTS
Best Film: Levantamuertos: Cumbia For The Dead, dir: José Eduardo Castilla Ponce
Jury’s Choice: Switch Off, dir: Sandeep Francis
Audience Award: The Last Jiangshi, dir: Yu Chih-Chieh
BUCHEON CHOICE KOREAN: SHORTS
Best Film: Mungchi, dir: Hong Seung-Gi
KFAA Best Actor: Han Yoo-Yeon (Turning Girl)
Audience Award: Siren, dir: Lee Soo-Hyuk
BUCHEON CHOICE AI FILMS
Best AI Film: Cornered, dirs: Odair Faleco, Davi Moori
TimeTree Best Technical Achievement: Big Ball, dir: Lim Ye-Jun
TapNow New Wave Award: Let There Be Light, dir: Takahashi Hiromu
AIMMOVIE Audience Award: Ask Me Anything, dir: Lee Yong-Seuk
Jury’s Special Mention: Prototype, dir: Seo Tae-Gyu
