SEVERIN FILMS INVADES KOREA!
We are thrilled to announce that three of Severin Films’ original productions will be represented at the esteemed Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) which takes place in Seoul, South Korea from June 29-July 9, 2023, on the occasion of the festival’s 50th Anniversary.
Severin co-founder David Gregory’s feature documentary ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE about the Bruceploitation phenomenon that followed in the wake of Bruce Lee’s untimely death makes its International debut at BIFAN, following its World Premiere at Tribeca.
Sean Hogan’s (THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS) latest film TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST has its World Premiere at BIFAN as part of their sidebar Folk Horror: Lands of Cruelty, Beliefs of Terror, which includes Kier-La Janisse’s documentary WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED (2021) and Severin’s 4K restoration of the late Avery Crounse’s EYES OF FIRE (1983).
Sean Hogan and Kier-La Janisse will be appearing at the festival in person on behalf of Severin and their respective films, which will be playing in cinema and online (geo-blocked for South Korean audiences).
About the films:
TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST
Sean Hogan | USA/UK 2023 | 42 mins | World Premiere
Event Page: http://www.bifan.kr/eng/program/program_view.asp?pk_seq=6760&sc_category_seq=6113&sc_num=1&actEvent=view
In 17th century rural England, a group of men is hired to carry a coffin to the graveyard. Superstitions and fear surround the journey, but the promise of higher wages motivates them. As they walk, tensions rise, and it's revealed that two of them had wronged the deceased. Strange occurrences, including a spectral figure and a menacing hound, unsettle the group. They suspect a plot against them but are unsure of the culprits' identity. Survival until dawn becomes their desperate goal.
ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE
David Gregory | USA 2023 | 93 mins | International Premiere
Event Page: http://www.bifan.kr/eng/program/program_view.asp?pk_seq=6630&sc_category_seq=6008&sc_num=1&actEvent=view
When Bruce Lee died in 1974, he’d completed only four films. Soon after, Hong Kong studios began producing hundreds of unauthorized biopics, sequels, prequels, and spin-offs starring Lee lookalikes. Over the next decade, ‘Bruceploitation’ would become a staple of global cinema. Director David Gregory examines this unique 70’s phenomenon via interviews with the performers, producers, directors, and distributors for the first time revealing one of the most bizarre genres in movie history.
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR
Kier-La Janisse | USA 2021 | 192 mins | Asian Premiere
Event Page: http://www.bifan.kr/eng/program/program_view.asp?pk_seq=6757&sc_category_seq=6113&sc_num=1&actEvent=view
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films – Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) – through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre’s revival over the last decade. Touching on over 200 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.
EYES OF FIRE
Avery Crounse | USA 1983 | 86 mins | Korean Premiere of new 4K restoration
Event Page: http://www.bifan.kr/eng/program/program_view.asp?pk_seq=6754&sc_category_seq=6113&sc_num=1&actEvent=view
A rogue 18th century preacher and his followers make their way downriver to establish a new settlement beyond the western frontier and encounter a forest enchanted by strange spirits that will bring an apocalyptic madness upon them.