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Co-presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Seoul Independent Film Festival, here comes one of our most popular film programmes again! Bringing you the best of Korean women independent cinema! Selected fiction and documentary features address personal and societal issues through the perspectives of women, spanning various genres. Themes such as forbidden love, leaked intimate images, workplace struggles, motherhood, and body image are all up for exploration.

All screenings will be accompanied by virtual after-screening talks with respective directors.

Programme Schedule

*With After-Screening Talk 

Programme Details

Opening Film

Hommage
오마주

29/6/2023 (Thu) 7:45pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

To our fading and splendid dream

Director: Shin Su-won
Casts: Lee Jung-eun, Kwon Hae-hyo, Tang Jun-sang, Kim Ho-jung
Korea | 2021 | 107’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour 

Award
Best Performance by an Actress, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2022

Nominations
Best Director, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2022
Best Director, Best Actress and Best New Actor, Chunsa Film Art Awards 2022
Best Film, Tokyo International Film Festival 2021

Festivals
Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
Tribeca Film Festival 2022
Hawaii International Film Festival 2022

Ji-wan is a 49-year-old female film director. Her third film is not welcomed by audiences, and she is struggling with finding investors for her fourth film. As her husband stops his financial support for her, she accepts a job from the film archive to restore an old film made by a female director from the 1960s, A Woman Judge, which follows a female judge’s struggles in balancing her duties as a mother and a public official. However, there are missing scenes, for which Ji-wan is determined to find the film footage. On her journey to trace back in time, she meets old filmmakers who invite her to see the world and life through their eyes. Ji-wan begins to ask: What is film to her? What is life?

Shin Su-won was a middle school history teacher and writer before she became a filmmaker with her debut feature Passerby #3 (2009). Her films won multiple awards and entered various prestigious international film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Edinburgh, Tribeca, Busan, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei Golden Horse amongst others.

Citizen Pane
말이야-바른-말이지

1/7/2023 (Sat) 3:30pm
*Directors will attend virtual after-screening talk.

That’s right. That’s right.

Directors: Yoon Seong-ho, Park Dong-hoon, Song Hyeon-ju, Han In-mi, Kim Soh-young, Choi Ha-na
Korea | 2022 | 67’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Festivals
Busan International Film Festival 2022
Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
Gwangju Independent Film Festival 2022
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022

This anthology of satirical comedies is a series of two-person conversations probing the absurdities and discomforts of Korean life – which many can easily relate: What qualifies a corporate manager as the biggest jerk? After a couple has broken up, who does the cat decide to follow? Which place of birth is best for competing in the game of life? Should a couple with fundamental differences get married? What is regarded as hate speech against men? How to counter a male boss who wants more from his female colleague?

While reality is brutally apathetic, people develop empathy, humour and intelligence as they go along.

This film is a collaborative effort of women and men directors.

The Talent Show
장기자랑

23/7/2023 (Sun) 3:00pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

The bright light of tears

Director: Lee So-hyun
Casts: Kim Myeong-im, Kim Do-hyeon, Kim Soon-deok
Korea | 2022 | 93’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Festivals
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022
Seoul International Women's Film Festival 2022
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival 2022

On 16 April 2014, the ferry MV Sewol has sunk. 306 out of 476 people aboard have died, out of which 250 are students from Danwon High School in Ansan City. As Koreans go to the street and demand truth from the government and controlled media, mothers of these students have decided to stage a play and cast themselves as their late children, recalling the dreams and hopes that the deceased have once had. It is a tragedy about injustice and broken hearts, and a courageous tale of how lives are rebuilt and cherished in painful memories. As one line by a mother goes, “We're working hard to save the world, so you can go on your school trips safely."

The Talent Show is the second documentary feature by director Lee So-hyun. She worked for an NGO that built libraries in Vietnam. One day, she decided to go back to Korea.

Jeong-sun
정순

23/7/2023 (Sun) 7:30pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

Revenge for a cause

Director: Jeong Ji-hye
Casts: Kim Kum-soon, Yun Seon-a, Cho Hyeon-woo, Kim Yong-joon
Korea | 2021 | 105’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Awards
Grand Jury Prize and Best Actress, Rome Film Festival 2022
Korean Competition Grand Prize, Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
NETPAC Award, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2022

Festivals
London Film Festival 2022
San Sebastian International Film Festival 2022
Busan Independent Film Festival 2022
Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022

Jeong-sun is a middle-aged single mother who works in a food factory. Her days are mundane, but she is a lively spirit who is in good relation with her grown daughter, and is also falling in love with a co-worker, Yeong-su. Co-workers start to whisper about their secret affair. One day, Jeong-sun discovers that an intimate video of hers is spreading everywhere. Shocked and distressed, she takes matters into her own hands with the support of her family and friends. This films delves aptly into issues of stereotyping, online sexual violence and bullying at work. Lead actress, Kim Kum-soon, gives an electricfying performance as Jeong-sun, and won Best Actress at the Rome Film Festival.

This is the debut directorial feature of Jeong Ji-hye, for which she has also scripted. She graduated from film production at Deongseo University. Her previous short films entered several film festivals.

Life Unrehearsed
두-사람

29/7/2023 (Sat) 3:00pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

Love first. Live later.

Director: Banpark Jieun
Casts: Lee Soo-hyun, Kim In-sun
Korea | 2022 | 80’ | In Korean and German with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Award
New Choice Award, Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022

Festivals
BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival 2023
Busan International Film Festival 2022
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022
Incheon Human Rights Film Festival 2022

Thirty-six years ago, Lee Soo-hyun has met Kim In-sun at a Korean Christian Women’s Association retreat in Germany and gifted her flowers. Despite threats from her then-husband and the disapproval of Korean society, In-sun finds love and chooses to be with Soo-hyun. Now, the two of them - who first come to work as nurses in a foreign country where they know nothing of the language - are still there and already in their 70s. For 30 years, they have lived together in Berlin and shared all the joys and sorrows of life. Soo-hyun and In-sun have stood in solidarity with other foreigners like themselves while also looking after one another. They are two people who have overcame boundaries. This is their love story, and their passionate fight against the discrimination towards elderlies and lesbians in Korea.

Banpark Jieun resides in Berlin and Life Unrehearsed is her directorial debut. She has made several short films that entered film festivals.

A Table for Two
두-사람을-위한-식탁

6/8/2023 (Sun) 3:00pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

Nothing to do with beauty

Director: Kim Bo-ram

Casts: Park Chae-young, Park Sang-ok
Korea | 2022 | 89’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Award
Mecenat Award (Wide Angle - Documentary Competition), Busan International Film Festival 2022

Festival
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022

When Chae-young turns 13, she has lost more than 20 kilograms. Diagnosed with anorexia and depression, she is sent to a psychiatric hospital. As her mother, Sang-ok, describes, it is a “rude awakening” for her to look back at how she has raised her daughter as a single mother, and at her past as an activist. Upon treatment, Chae-young’s anorexia turns to bulimia, which has made her vomit for more than 10 years. The mother and daughter do not discuss the issue. One day, Chae-young decides to leave for Australia in search of a new life, but returns to Korea due to the outbreak of COVID-19. As the two get together again, they finally talk about what have kept them silent.

Director Kim Bo-ram studied literature and made short films in a small cinema club. She worked as a writer for a development team in a film company for two years. Her films entered various film festivals. Her documentary on the stigma tied to menstruation, For Vagina’s Sake (2018), was selected for the first edition of Women Direct. Korean Indies! programmed by the Hong Kong Arts Centre.

Climbing
클라이밍

11/8/2023 (Fri) 7:30pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

The cord of destiny can never be severed 

Director: Kim Hye-mi
Korea | 2020 | 77’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Award
Special Jury Prize, Ulju Mountain Film Festival 2021

Nomination
Best Film (Contrechamp Award), Annecy International Animation Festival 2021

Festivals
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2022
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022
Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival 2021

Professional climber, Choi Se-hyeon, who has just recovered from a car accident, discovers that she is pregnant as the Climbing World Championships is fast approaching. While her long-time aspirations are threatened, she struggles to break free from the duties of motherhood. One day, as if from another dimension, she starts to receive text messages from “herself” on a broken cellphone. That “self” seems to have been through a different life after the car accident, and tells her that she wants to keep her baby. This film is an intense deep dive into the psychology of pregnancy.

This animated horror is the debut directorial feature of Kim Hye-mi and was in competition at one of the top animation festivals, Annecy International Animation Festival. Before this, she made short films. Her works entered various prestigious international film festivals.

Archaeology of Love
사랑의 고고학

13/8/2023 (Sun) 2:00pm
*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

Will she be able to love again? 

Director: Lee Wan-min
Casts: Ok Ja-Yeon, Han Ki-yoon
Korea, France | 2022 | 162’ | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Awards
Special Mention of Jury and Best Actor Prize, Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
Independent Star Award (Best Actor), Seoul International Film Festival 2022

Nominations
Best Debut Feature (Ingmar Bergman Award), Göteborg Film Festival 2023
Best Asian Feature Film, Singapore International Film Festival 2022

Festivals
Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
Seoul International Women's Film Festival 2022
Seoul Independent Film Festival 2022

Young-sil, an independent archaeologist, and In-seek, a sound engineer, fall in love in eight hours after they first meet. In-seek thinks Young-sil is too much of a free spirit, and makes her promise that their love would last forever. Although his anxiety has become a source of discomfort, Young-sil tries to keep the promise, even after their breakup. As the sentiments of the two still linger after eight years, Young-sil slowly develops romantic feelings towards U-do, a logger she has met at an excavation site, but she does not know how to engage in these feelings. Described by the Singapore International Film Festival, this quiet tale portrays “a young woman’s ruminative journey in excavating her emotional depths in order to love again”. The subtle and exact performance of lead actress, Ok Ja-yeon, won her Best Actor at the Jeonju and Seoul film festivals.

Archaeology of Love is the second feature directed by Lee Wan-min. She has made several short films before her directorial debut, Jamsil (2018). Her films entered several film festivals. She studied law, film directing and film aesthetics in Seoul and Paris.

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Co-Presented by: Hong Kong Arts Centre, Seoul Independent Film Festival

Media Partners: Asian Movie Pulse, Film Pilgrimage, Hong Kong Arts Administrators Association, P-articles Literature, Todayscreening

Special Thanks: Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, Women In Work