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Women’s Film Festival in Seoul Turns 10

The Women’s Film Festival in Seoul (WFFIS) celebrates its 10^th edition this year with a kick-off ceremony April 10^th featuring an HD omnibus as its opener.  Called Ten Ten, the movie features six 15 minute short films from five Korean female filmmakers (BYUN Young-joo, LEE Soo-yeon, JANG Hee-sun, LIM Sung-min, Helen Lee) and one German female director (Ulrike OTTINGER). 

Running until April 18, WFFIS will screen a record 141 films from 30 countries under its banner motto “See the World through Women’s Eyes”.  New this year, however, is a section titled Open Cinema in which feminist films by male directors will also be screened.  Other sections of interest include Politics of the Body, which looks at how women’s bodies are depicted and exploited, and the Fantastic Female Movie section, which highlights the imaginative side of the female psyche. 

Festival organizer have named Korean director LIM Soon-rye recipient of its first Park Nam-ok Award for outstanding accomplishment.  Since her debut in 1994, LIM has succeeded in conquering both critics and audiences, rising to mainstream regard with her 2008 hit, Forever the Moment, but perhaps adored most for her music-themed classic, The Waikiki Brothers (2001). 

Along with Forever the Moment, rare screenings of two of LIM’s previous films, Promenade in the Rain (1994) and The Weight of Her (2002) will be included in the showcase section “9707” which highlights 10 years of WFFIS.  Other films in the showcase include BYUN Young-joo’s Habitual Sadness (1997), JEONG Jae-eun’s Take Care of My Cat (2001), PARK Kyoung-hee’s A Smile (2003), and LEE Soo-yeon’s The Uninvited (2003). 

63 feature films and 78 shorts will screen in total.  While the festival is non-competitive, a cash award of US$22 000 will be given to the best Asian short film.  Program highlights include the New Wave section, offering some of the latest trends in female filmmaking, the Queer Rainbow section, providing voice to sexually marginalized groups, and the Girls of Film section, presenting films by a new generation of young women directors. 

The festival takes place at the Artreon theater in, Sinchon, west-central Seoul.  More information can be found at the festival’s website at http://www.wffis.or.kr

Nigel D’Sa (KOFIC)