10 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 18th Seoul Eco Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on June 3, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

These are ten films you shouldn’t miss at the 18th Seoul Eco Film Festival which will take place Online from June 3rd – 9th, 2021.

About the festival:
Seoul Eco Film Festival (SEFF) is the first and biggest film festival in Korea focusing on environmental issues. Established in 2004 by Korea Green Foundation, SEFF is a festival that seeks to share the hope for a better world where all the lives can live in harmony with environment and nature. Through cinema, the festival hopes to promote ideas of environmental protection and life respect to encourage public awareness and action for positive changes.

Selected Films:

**City of Outlanders** by Moon Seung-wook, Yu Yejin – Korea | 2020 – 62 minutes
Korean Competition

Before it became a port city, Gunsan was a small fishing village. Under Japanese colonial rule, Gunsan served as a passageway through which rice was transferred to Japan, and thus became a city of outlanders, attracting workers. They collaborated with Japan to make a living, and, after liberation, relied on the US troops for survival. By 2020, Gunsan crumbles away like any other provincial city. All that remains is the history of capital that has passed through the city leaving traces of the past. A dancer floats around Gunsan and explores the sorrow that permeates the city.

Trailer:

**Climate Exodus** by David Baute – Spain | 2020 – 65 minutes
International Competition

After having lost all because of climate change, three women from different countries and continents Kenya (Africa), India (Asia) and the Caribbean (America) – have to migrate to start a new life.

Screening Date:
June 5th, 2021 | Saturday | Digital Screening | 10:00 am

Trailer:

**Dreaming Cat** by Kang Min-Hyun, Ji Wan – Korea | 2020 – 74 minutes
Korean Competition

A cat with a crippled leg lives in an alley in an abandoned town which is soon to be demolished. The film follows people who are heading towards the town to rescue the cat.

Screening Date:
June 5th, 2021 | Saturday | MEGABOX Seongsu 1 | 17:00 pm

Trailer:

**Nureongi** by Kevin S. Bright – USA | 2020 – 72 minutes
Eating up the Planet

Nureongi is a documentary which explores the history and culture of dog meat consumption in South Korea, one of the few countries where the breeding of dogs for human consumption is legal. Through interviews and on-location footage with animal activists, dog meat farmers, politicians, veterinarians, a diverse group of Korean people, and adopters of “meat dogs,” the film presents a balanced look into all sides of an emotive, sensitive issue. The livelihood of the farmers, the passion of the activists, and the history of this tradition are all essential in exploring this topic.

Screening Date:
June 7th, 2021 | Monday | Digital Screening | 10:00 am

Trailer:

**Once Upon a Village** by Srishti Lakhera – India | 2021 – 61 minutes
International Competition

In the Himalayan foothills, an 80- year- old woman and a 19-year-old girl are two of the seven remaining inhabitants of an abandoned village. The two struggle with the choice to leave for an alienating city or continue living in a lonely village. The 50 families that once lived in the village have migrated to the city. With this migration, livelihood connected to the terrain and seasons have slowly faded. As the film progresses, the two women face the palpable forces of migration. Their emotional journey changes their relationship with the place they call “Home.”

Screening Date:
June 6th, 2021 | Sunday | Digital Screening | 10:00 am

Trailer:

**Space Baedari** by Lim Ki-Woog – Korea | 2020 – 41 minutes
Korean Competition

For over thirty years, Kwak Hyun-Sook has run a second-hand bookstore Abel Books in Baedari, Incheon. In 2007, she began protesting against the construction of an industrial road across the village. The construction project was eventually suspended due to opposition from local residents, and the site was turned into a green space filled with trees and plants. However, the Incheon Metropolitan Government resumes the road construction and causes conflict with the local community.

Trailer:

**Spaceship Earth** by Matt Wolf – USA | 2020 – 115 minutes
The Playground Named Earth

In 1991, a group of countercultural visionaries built an enormous replica of the earth’s ecosystem called Biosphere 2. When eight “biospherians” live quarantined inside, they faced ecological calamities and cult accusations. Their epic adventure is a cautionary tale but also a testament to the power of small groups reimagining the world.

Screening Date:
June 4th, 2021 | Friday | Digital Screening | 10:00 am

Trailer:

**Taming the Garden** by Salomé Jashi – Switzerland, Germany, Georgia | 2021 – 92 minutes
International Competition

A powerful ― and anonymous ― man has developed an unusual hobby. He buys century-old trees, some as tall as 15 story buildings, from communities along the Georgian coast and has them excavated to collect them for his private garden. In order to transplant trees of such dimensions, the landscape surrounding them is ripped apart and the people living around them are forced to adapt to the disruption. As the film follows this process, it portrays the needs and values of today’s Georgian society and reflects on the theme of forced migration, where “uprooting” is more than a metaphor.

Screening Date:
June 5th, 2021 | Saturday | Digital Screening | 10:00 am

Trailer:

**The Last Forest** by Luiz Bolognesi – Brazil | 2021 – 76 minutes
International Competition

In an isolated Yanomami land in the Amazon, the shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomani tries to keep the spirits of the forest and the traditions alive, while the arrival of gold prospectors brings death and destruction to the community. Young folks are charmed by the goods brought by the white; and Ehuana, who sees her husband disappear, tries to understand what happened in her dreams.

Screening Date:
June 4th, 2021 | Friday | Digital Screening | 10:00 am

Trailer:

**Your Face** by Seo Dong-il – Korea | 2020 – 86 minutes
Korean Competition

The documentary film Your Face, centers on the caricature artist Eunhye with Down syndrome who draws people based on their personalities rather than their physical characteristics. When people ask her to make them look pretty in the drawing, she responds, “You’re already pretty.” Despite her mental developmental disability, she has brought a beautiful talent of capturing a person’s unique beauty within her caricatures. Over the course of drawing people’s faces with a happy smile, she realizes she has captured over 2,000 smiles. Looking at her portfolio, staring back at her are two thousand smiles.

Trailer: