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Asian cinema: Korean films
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What’s showing at South Korea’s BiFan 2026 as it celebrates 30 years of Asian genre cinema

The 2026 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival boasts a formidable programme of horror, action, science fiction and fantasy titles

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Ryu Seung-yon in a still from the Korean comedy Extreme Job (2019), one of the many movies showing at the 2026 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, in South Korea.
James Marsh

Marking its 30th anniversary, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in South Korea promises a typically raucous 11-day event from July 2 to 12. Staged in the bustling satellite city west of Seoul, Asia’s largest celebration of genre cinema has assembled a formidable selection of the latest horror, action, science fiction and fantasy films from around the globe.

This year, proceedings kick off with the local premiere of Hong Kong film legend Yuen Woo-ping’s blockbuster wuxia epic Blades of the Guardians. Other prominent international titles include Curry Barker’s low-budget horror sensation Obsession, Jane Schoenbrun’s Cannes favourite Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and Adrian Chiarella’s Australian shocker Leviticus.
Among the other selected Asian highlights are Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s stately chanbara (samurai cinema) thriller The Samurai and the Prisoner, Joko Anwar’s bloody prison horror Ghost in the Cell and Giddens Ko Ching-teng’s high school martial arts drama Kung Fu, alongside a robust line-up of debuting Korean features.

In recent years, BiFan has taken a sharp turn towards platforming AI filmmaking, with sections devoted to short-form and feature-length content created with the increasingly ubiquitous technology. More reassuring, however, is the fact that the festival still has an impressive line-up of retrospective screenings.

Shin Ha-kyun (left) and Baek Yoon-shik in a still from Save the Green Planet! (2003). The film is part of the “Asian Genre Films 99” programme at this year’s BiFan. Photo: CJ Entertainment
Shin Ha-kyun (left) and Baek Yoon-shik in a still from Save the Green Planet! (2003). The film is part of the “Asian Genre Films 99” programme at this year’s BiFan. Photo: CJ Entertainment

A golden age of genre cinema

As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, BiFan has collaborated with the Korean Film Archive to curate a selection of Asian genre classics from the past three decades.

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