There are small groups of people staggering out of the darkness and into the bright light of midday outside the Bucheon City Hall. For the uninitiated, the scene might be cause for some alarm, given the pallid complexions and disheveled clothing on display, and also in view of the general fixation with zombies in this part of the world.

But such scenes are common every year around early summer across this satellite city on the outskirts of Seoul, as the faithful brave the early morning show timings to get their fill of films about the undead, and more.

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) has for 23 editions now celebrated all that is weird and wonderfully disturbing about genre cinema from Asia and around the world. It draws the leading lights from the horror, slasher, monster and even deformed-victim-revenge-thriller genres (who knew that last one was an actual thing?), along with the people who follow these films obsessively.

It was the best of both worlds this year for Hong Kong's Tommy Ng Kai-chung, a genre filmmaker (animation) by trade and a genre film fanatic by choice.

"Bifan provides a perfect platform for creators who dare to be different," says Ng. "Bifan screenings include many experimental movies, or what we call cult movies. I submitted my film to this festival because of this diversity."

This year saw Ng's latest animated short Another World screen at Bifan. The plot revolves around a lost ghost that befriends a little girl. The film was tucked in alongside shorts such as The Disgusting Family of Killer Seaweed. There was a smattering of other Hong Kong productions among the 284 films on show from 49 countries, among them Lee Cheuk-pan's unnerving thriller G Affairs.

One of the delights at the festival - for filmmakers as much as fans, it seems - are the Q&A sessions that follow selected screenings.

"Receiving comments from the audience is precious," says Ng. "The questions they asked provided a new perspective for us. And I really loved being able to talk to foreign creators. I met a live-action film crew from Japan who are focusing on the social phenomenon of 'fake news'. I saw this phenomenon from a new perspective and I had a fruitful chat with them."

Among this year's Bifan highlights were audience award-winner The Culprit from South Korean Koh Jung-wook, a desperate 'did he or didn't he?' thriller, and a taste of genre cinema from the Chinese mainland in Xiang Guoqiang's circus-set (and utterly creepy) Extraordinary Youth. There was also a retrospect of monster films from the past and Beyond Reality, a side program exploring the scope of virtual reality in cinema of the future.

First-time festival boss Shin Chul is known mostly for his past as a producer of some of South Korea's biggest box office successes, including the monster rom-com hit My Sassy Girl (2001). He said he was attracted to the new role by the challenge of helping genre films from the region compete with Hollywood and its blockbusters. Judging by what was on offer this year, he's started on a strong footing.

"It's been a momentous year for Korean cinema, as we are celebrating our 100 years," said Chul. "So Bifan must help to plan the course of the next 100 years. Diversity is the key here and I think we have shown that in our line-up. Filmmakers in Korea and across Asia are doing some very exciting things."

(HK Edition 07/26/2019 page9)