the korea herald, Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Film fest honors female perspective

Korea's film industry saw some significant developments recently in terms
of the power women possess, and a notable example is the great success of
director Lee Jeong-hyang, whose "The Way Home" topped the box office last
year.
Notwithstanding other women superpowers in the sector, like Kim Mi-hee of
"Fun & Happiness," and a surge in qualified actresses, the movie industry
still has problems: Films directed by women are still too rare and movies
about women are filled with stereotypes - female characters are often
portrayed as sexual objects or weak beings requiring protection.

The 5th Women's Movie Festival (WFFIS) offers support for continued
improvements in the status of women in the movie field, including production
and screening. Launched in 1997, it brings to Korea some of the best and
most radical films made by women directors around the world, hoping to give
Koreans some models to look to. Accordingly, the works to be shown at the
festival are notorious for their frank exploration of such topics as
feminism, gender and sexuality.

The WFFIS is bigger than ever. Slated for April 11-18, it will showcase 120
works, quadruple the number shown in its first year, and it will also expand
from two to three venues: Dongsung Art Center and Hypertech Nada and Dongduk
Women's University's Performing Arts Center.

In addition, about 25 renowned international guests will appear at the
festival, illustrating the growing reputation of the festival in the global
circles.

"Our festival's goal is really simple: It's 'Let's look at the world and
movies through women's eyes.' This is not necessarily to distinguish the
genders, so to speak, but rather to give women a voice in film, since they
haven't had many opportunities for that before," said Lee Hye-kyoung, chief
organizer of the festival.

The opening film will be director Park Kyoung-hee's "A Smile," a story
without clear-cut drama but one that aims to give women hope by capturing
the smiles of women who have weathered particularly tough hardships in their
lives.

The festival is divided into seven parts: "New Currents," "Asian Cinema,"
"Focus on Lea Pool," "Korean Cinema Retrospective," "Deep Focus," "Feminist
Film and Video Activism," "Asian Short Film and Video Competition" and
"Special Screening."

The New Currents section is the heart of the WFFIS, as it matches 37 of the
most recent and important movies produced by women from around the world.
Among the candidates are Doris Dorrie's "Naked" (Germany), an invitee to the
Venice Film Festival, Barbara Teufel's "Gallant Girls" (Germany), an
independent film that documents women's rebellion in Germany, and Rakhshan
Bani Etemad's "Under the Skin of the City" (Iran), the star of rave reviews
around the world.

Of particular note is that four of the competing works are by first-time
directors: Yau Ching's "Let's Love Hong Kong" (Hong Kong), Monica
Stambrini's "Gasoline" (Italy), Catherine Martin's "Marriages" (Canada) and
Maria Sigurdardottir's "Regina" (Canada).

All of these movies deal with universal women's issues such as sexuality and
women's relationships in society, sometimes posing questions and other times
answering them for the audience.

The Asian Cinema section this year focuses on women directors in the
Philippines, following China and India in past events. Titled "Filipina
Cinema Panorama," the program features filmmakers Ateng Osorio, the nation's
first war film director, Maria Saret, who made over 30 action flicks and
Marliou Diaz-Abaya, internationally best-known director from the country.

"The Philippines is one of the most active filmmaking fields for women in
the world. The top five films of 2001, for instance, were all made by women
directors," Lee explained.

The Focus on Lea Pool section pays tribute to the Canadian director who made
a name for herself with her sensitive style that penetrates the psyche of
women. The program comprises one documentary, "Lettre a Ma Fille," and five
dramas - "Emporte-Moi," "Anne Trister," "La Demoiselle Sauvage," "La Femme
de L'hotel" and "Rispondetemi."

Other worthy events include Korean Cinema Retrospective, featuring four
local pieces - Park Sang-ho's "Ttosun-I," Park Yun-kyo's "Magic Sword," Kim
Soo-young's "Flame in the Valley" and Kwon Cheol-hwi's "A Public Cemetary of
Wol-Ha"; Deep Focus that introduces 37 experimental feminist films; and the
Feminist Film and Video Activism section that offers movies produced by
teenagers.

The final event, Asian Short Film and Video Competition, is the film fest's
second competitive category and it aims to give short-film directors from
Korea and other Asian countries greater exposure. A total of 157 short films
from seven countries were submitted to the section and 18 finalists were
selected.

The most significant part of the weeklong movie event, however, may be the
various programs encouraging interaction between the women directors and
women audience members. There will be a "Women in Film Night," an "Asian
Women's Forum," a separate get-together for women's rights advocates, and a
general party for the special foreign guests, the Korean filmmakers and the
audience.

Many of the movies have English subtitles. For more information, call
02-588-5355 or 1544-1555 or visit www.wffis.or.kr.
(mihui@koreaherald.co.kr)

By Kim Mi-hui Staff reporter 2003.03.26

(http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/03/26/200303260027.asp)

____________________

Matthias Arnold M.A.
Digital Resources
Institute of Chinese Studies
University of Heidelberg
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Germany

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