Hyojung of the K-pop girl group Oh My Girl, who is promotional ambassador for this year's Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF), on Sept. 21 poses with the event's mascot Ppu-ppu at a news conference held at the Korea Press Center in Seoul's Jung-gu District. (BIAF)

By Lee Ji Yae and Charles Audouin
Video = BIAF's official YouTube channel

The Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF), now in its 28th year, will run from Oct. 23-27 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do Province.

Under the slogan "Everyone's Animation," BIAF will screen 103 works from 31 countries in categories like International Competition (features and shorts), Korean Short Film, Graduation Film, and TV & Commissioned Film.

Hyojung, a member of the K-pop girl group Oh My Girl and the event's ambassador, on Sept. 21 spoke about the event at a news conference at the Korea Press Center in Seoul's Jung-gu District.

"Animation is a space that brings out our pure hearts," she said. "As an ambassador, I will do my best to ensure that the event leaves everyone with happy memories."

The opening film, "Tangles" directed by Lea Nilson, is set in San Francisco in 1999 and follows Sarah as she cares for her Alzheimer's-stricken mother. It explores the meaning of family, memory and love.

"Tangles" was officially selected for a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May and is also a preliminary nominee for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

"As the title implies, this is the story of how the lives of a mother's family gets increasingly tangled and chaotic as well as her mind," Hyojung said. "I think this will make those with a 'T' in their MBTI shed a few tears, while those with an 'F will be sobbing uncontrollably."

She was referring to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a self-report questionnaire that classifies people into 16 personality types based on four preference pairs: extraversion/introversion (E/I); sensing/intuition (S/N); thinking/feeling (T/F); and judging/perceiving (J/P).

To commemorate the 140th anniversary of Korea's diplomatic relations with France, the exhibition "Sparkling France" sponsored by the French Embassy in Seoul will screen four films including "The Artist" (2011), winner of the Oscar for Best Picture and Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture.

"The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius will attend the festival for a Q&A on his first feature animated film, "The Most Precious of Cargoes."

A program will also explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in animation production. This year's BIAF has no specific restrictions on the use of AI in films submitted for awards.

A talk on "To the Neighbors Upstairs," a work produced by the AI model Google DeepMind, will discuss the AI production process and related creative methods.

BIAF Organizing Committee Chairperson Seo Chae-hwan said, "BIAF's principle is to embrace AI as a creative tool in line with the standards (of the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) while ensuring that creators remain at the center of the creative process."

As a global animation film festival designated by the academy, BIAF has showcased a range of global works selected for its rigorous competition sections every year.

"Little Amelie or the Character of Rain," which won the BIAF Grand Prize for Feature Film last year, was nominated this year for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and "Retirement Plan," which received special mention from the BIAF jury, earned an Oscar nod for Best Animated Short Film.

"The Girl Who Cried Pearls," winner of the BIAF AniB's Choice Prize in the short film category, won this year's Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

ljyhwa@korea.kr