Moon Geun-young to make directorial film debut at BIFAN

Actress-director Moon Geun-young / Courtesy of Cree Company

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Actress Moon Geun-young is making her directorial debut this year with three short films that will be showcased at the 26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), Korea's largest annual genre film festival.

Her creative project consists of three short films ― "Abyss," "The Stage" and "Be In My Dream" ― that will be screened in the XL section of BIFAN, which will be held July 7-17 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.

"Abyss," which stars Moon, revolves around a woman who falls deeper into the abyss at the moment she thinks she has broken her limits. "The Stage" follows a woman who keeps finding her way back to the stage again and again despite many obstacles. "Be In My Dream" centers on a man handling grief and loss after saying goodbye to a loved one.

Moon previously admitted that she had never expected this transition to happen.

"I didn't go into directing with any ideas of where I'd wind up," she said. "I'm grateful that I met amazing film crew who have put up with me, a clumsy filmmaker," she said.

Moon debuted as a child actor in 1999. She shot to fame in 2000 thanks to the TV series, "Autumn in My Heart." She has been featured in dozens of hit films, including, "A Tale of Two Sisters" (2003), "My Little Bride" (2004) and "The Throne" (2014).

This year's BIFAN will open with horror film "Men" by English director Alex Garland and close with director Jung Bum-shik's "New Normal," a thriller that explores fear in our everyday lives following the pandemic outbreak. Actors Park Byung-eun and Han Sun-hwa will co-host the opening ceremony, which will be held in person and attended by filmmakers and stars from Korea and abroad.

A total of 268 films from 49 countries will be shown at local theaters and on local streaming platform, Wavve, during the festival.

Ten films will compete at Bucheon Choice for international features, including "Alien Artist" by Japanese director Seiyo Hoya, the "The Womb" by Indonesian director Fajar Nugros and "You Won't Be Alone" by Australian filmmaker Goran Stolevski.

Ten flicks, including "Body Parts," "Cabriolet," "Next Door" and "A Good Boy," will vie for the prize in the "Korean Fantastic" section.

A special screening program presenting the works of actor Seol Kyung-gu will take place. Under the title "The Actor, Seol Kyung-gu," seven of his films, including "Peppermint Candy" (1999), "Oasis" (2002), "Silmido" (2003) and "The Merciless" (2017), will be shown during the period.

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