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A trailer for "Beau Is Afraid," the opening film of the 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, is played during a press conference at Bucheon City Hall in Bucheon, some 20 kilometers west of Seoul, on June 7, 2023, to promote the festival. This year's festival is set to run from June 29 to July 9. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- American director Ari Aster's "Beau Is Afraid" has been set as the opening film of the 27th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), organizers said.

The film follows a mild-mannered but paranoia-ridden man as he embarks on a surreal odyssey to get home to attend his mother's funeral, confronting his greatest fears along the way.

Founded in 1997, BIFAN has been held annually in Bucheon, about 20 kilometers west of Seoul, growing to be South Korea's largest genre film festival.

This year's festival will take place at movie theaters and various other places in the city from June 29 to July 9. It will play 262 short and feature films from 51 countries.

Some of the invited films will be shown on Wavve, a local streaming platform, according to the organizers.

The closing title will be "Everyone's Song," the latest suspense-horror movie from Japanese filmmaker Takashi Shimizu.

Nine films will compete in the Bucheon Choice for international features while 14 titles were up for competition in the shorts category of the Bucheon Choice.

The festival will give a special screening of 10 major films starring Choi Min-sik, an actor representing the Korean film industry. They also include some of the actor's early-stage short films. He will attend a conversation program with the films' audiences.

"We'll make it a film festival to analyze and predict the present and future of Korean films in light of significant changes happening in the global film industry," BIFAN director Shin Chul said during a press conference held at Bucheon City Hall on Wednesday to promote the upcoming event.