The Sin (2023) is presented in BIFFF

Last Tuesday, April 9th, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival opened its doors to the 42nd edition. 

This festival is well recognized in Europe and worldwide, making it one of the craziest film festivals where more than one hundred films from all over the globe are being screened in 13 days, no more no less. As the name says, the event is based on the presentation on any type of fantastic screening; gathering thrillers, horror movies, sci-fi, crime, experimental anime, fantastic ones and more. 

This 42nd edition of BIFFF will welcome around 25 film directors and actors coming from everywhere, who are presenting their works for the first time in the European capital. Yesterday, April 10th,, fanatics of horror movies and zombies had the opportunity to meet Dong-seok Han, the film director of The Sin, an authentic thriller that was released last year and presented in Torino’s Film Festival, and also in the International Competition in this edition of BIFFF. 

The session started at 9pm in Cinema 2, located in the enclosure of Brussels Expo, near the Atomium. There were some food trucks so people could have a small bite and a drink before attending the screening. Once you entered, you could find a couple of shops where you could buy some merchandise: also there was a red carpet with a photocall and more crowded bars that smelled like a mix of beer and crepes. 

The way to get to Cine 2 was a bit confusing: lots of stairs and doors, outside the movie theater you could devise the director waiting to enter the room. 

The theater was completely full of horror movie’s fanatics waiting for the film to start, and as soon as the director came accompanied by the scriptwriter, the translator and the presenter, everyone started showing their respects and affection by screaming and shouting. For those who went to BIFF for the first time, they might have been surprised by the audience’s behavior, very loud and full of french comments.

Dong-seok Han talked about his inspirations to lead the movie to an “experimental dance film”, and he also gave recognition to Han Dong-seok, he tries to put on the screen everything that she writes and that's how The sin was created. 

Talking about the film, perhaps, it was a bit confusing. Siyeong is a girl that has been chosen to be the main character of an experimental dance movie which is being filmed in a derelict building, in the middle of Korea's mountains. Since they started filming, weird things started happening: the discovery of bizarre symbols painted on the wall, people throwing themselves from the rooftop and then coming back to life with blood hunger, the absence of signal. It felt like the zombie apocalypse just started.

The protagonist and some staff, also, including one old classmate of hers, are trying to escape. The film director is in the group and his desire to keep filming everything that is going on, makes everyone nervous. Darkness, the zombie call, and the fear of not surviving are feelings that the director wants to transmit to the public. And are well achieved. 

When everything more or less seems to be under control, the situation turns around and everything becomes confusing, the film director has been killed and strange group of man with mask want to take Siyeong with them, she founds her friend, after losing her for a couple of ours and they both run to the nearest gas station. From this moment, the story “starts again” and the audience starts to understand why everything has happened, who provoked it, who these people are and why they were doomed to die. 

The public is anxious, they start throwing questions out loud “why is this happening”, “ask her why”, “we need to know!”, and they keep answering each other's questions, it is like people are passing and throwing the ball one to another, a funny image to experience.  The movie ends with the accomplishment of the goal that was settled beforehand by the mysterious men with masks and their leader, and lots of flashbacks that help the public understand the characters’ behaviors, everything ends up making sense.

End of the session. Applause.

Will the public wait and hope for the release of the possible sequel? We will have to wait for that.