While the #MeToo and ‘Time’s Up’ campaigns are heating up the world, a meaningful documentary was released in Korea on January 18th. It is director KIM Bo-ram’s film about the female body and the menstrual cycle, For Vagina’s Sake. Last year, it won the Documentary Ock Rang Award at the SEOUL International Women’s Film Festival which is the highest award in the documentary section at the festival. This highly anticipated film was surprisingly KIM Bo-ram’s debut feature. She used to be just an ordinary female office worker who decided to pick up a camera to self-examine her own body, which led to the making of For Vagina’s Sake. We met with director KIM Bo-ram to talk about how the production came together.

I worked at a film distribution company where they exported Asian and Korean documentaries abroad. I was a writer in the export and production team, while our producer OH Hee-jung was in charge of distribution. One day, I had an opportunity to visit my friends in the Netherlands, and we started talking about our periods. I gave my friend Charlotte a pouch with cloth pads my grandmother made, then she asked me what they were. Ever since she first started her period, she had only used tampons. It was a shocking news for me, and I started to look up information about the menstrual cycle since then. I found out about the diverse tools and their history. I talked to OH Hee-jung about making it into a film, and she thought it would be interesting. At first, I thought about making it through the company, but I decided it would be best to make it on my own since it’s my debut film. Three months later, OH Hee-jung quit as well. Our cinematographer KIM Min-ju was in her senior year of university at the time. I felt strongly about working with the people who agreed with why the production should be made. One of our key staff recruited the animation director, KIM Seung-hee. I was deciphering how I should include more visuals and was considering adding animation. After watching Mirror In Mind (2014), I really liked KIM Seung-hee’s style and asked her if she would like to join us. She was happy to accept, and the four of us started the project.

I’m the only child and I always grew up where the majority was women. That’s why I never experienced discrimination where I felt I was excluded for being a woman. However, when I started working at a film production company, I felt out of place as it was a male-centric environment. Ever since I became a writer for documentaries, I was interested in how Korean cultural content dealt with women. Unlike the American content I was used to, Korean content standardized the concept of beauty and only those who met the criteria were cast. I also felt that the public was trying too hard to follow that standard as well. On top of that, male-centric content has been popular, so it became harder to find female characters in films. This problem was brought up by young women, and it also influenced For Vagina’s Sake for the two years I worked on it. On top of that, I knew the audience would find the parts of the film uncomfortable if I made a film without studying the preexisting theories, so I studied feminism. Since the USA had produced a lot of feminist content before us, I got help through their content, styles, and compositions.

 

Since the film initially started off from a personal event, I thought there needed to be a narrator even if it was just for the beginning. Also, this is a very private story, so I couldn’t ask someone else to do it for me. A lot of friends and family agreed to be interviewed. In addition, feminists, doctors, politicians, a college student who demanded the implementation of a law to provide free pads, and YouTubers were some of the diverse people I met with. Up until now, many women were provided with limited information about their menstrual cycle, but the internet has allowed the beginning of more extensive communications. 

While working as a writer, I learned that even a documentary needs a script. So, whenever I was given a new source, I made adjustments to my plan. Due to the subject matter, I had to make a film that was cheerful and pleasant. That’s why animation played a big role. I tried hard to allow director KIM Seung-hee’s signature to show. As for the original music, I wanted composer KIM Hae-won’s intentions to be best supported. All of their creative work came together in the opening sequence. It’s my favorite scene in the film. 

I actually thought about mentioning our right to stop having our periods. Charlotte, the friend I mentioned earlier and the one who also helped me begin this project, was implanted with equipment to control her ovulation so she wouldn’t get her periods. I didn’t realize, but many people overseas have been getting this surgical procedure. After researching it, I found out that it’s possible to get it done by a gynecologist. For the film’s ending, I was going to get the procedure done to show that I no longer had to have my menstrual cycles. However, my doctor told me that it wouldn’t be a good idea for my body. Also, it could cause various side effects, and there haven’t been enough clinical tests to prove its safety. That’s why I decided it would be too dangerous to cover in the film and took it out.  

I hope they would take the film not as something that touches on the problem of female periods, but as a problem to human kind. There is a scene in the film where the state of New York announces the termination of the tampon tax and promises to provide free tampons and pads to homeless shelters and jails across the city at a high school in Bronx. The mayor and the member of the city council stand in the back as a high school girl comes up to the podium to discuss why this bill is necessary. The New York mayor says, “Your mother would be proud of you if she were alive” as he adds that the new law is a part of their efforts to provide a safer place to live. It was very admiring to see how they talked in a positive language while recognizing the community, and to discuss the problem as a team. I believe this will be possible in Korea too. At first, I targeted the film for female audiences in their 20s, but I’ve been getting positive feedback from women in their 30s to 50s as well. Also, many fathers started to think more seriously about the bodies of their daughters and how they grow. I hope this film will continue to be read this way.

Recently, I’ve found interest in the history of Korean female comediennes. I didn’t start researching yet, but towards the end of the Joseon Era’s traveling troupe to the recent day comediennes, I want to cover the hardships of their lives. In order to make others laugh, they must be open to self-degradation. However, people like SONG Eun-yi and PARK Mi-sun were able to make people laugh without humiliating themselves. It will be hard to recruit people for interviews, so I’m not sure if it’ll work out. I hope other female producers and writers aside from me would join in making creative works to show different perspectives. If I get the chance, I want to write a novel too.