20 Films you cannot miss at the 21st Seoul International Women’s Film Festival (Part 2)

By Asian Film Festival on August 13, 2019 • ( 1 Comment )

We continue with our list of Films you shouldn’t miss at the 21st Seoul International Women’s Film Festival which will take place from August 30th until September 5th (2019) in Seoul, South Korea.

About the festival:
Since its inception of 1997, SIWFF has tried to live up to its slogan, “See the World through Women’s Eyes,” by focusing on the discovery of female cineastes and secured its position as a hub of women’s film network as well as one of renowned international women’s film festivals.

Opening a new chapter, SIWFF prepares for making a new leap forward based on the 20-year progress. The slogan “20+1, Faces Breaking Down the Walls” holds the festival’s commitment for the next ten years. This year SIWFF has changed its period and venue from spring to summer and from Sinchon to Sangam. There are full of freshness in the program.

In the 21st edition, SIWFF presents 119 films from 31 countries. There are four competition sections thanks to last year’s addition of International Competition and Korean Competition. The number of submitted films is a record high this year. Significant progress has been witnessed in terms of the diversity of subject matters and the quality of films.

Recommended Films:

Lush Reeds by Yang Yishu – China | 2018 – 105 minutes
Section: International Feature Competition

The newly-married newspaper reporter Xia Yin’s colleague Lu has committed suicide. The apartment is cluttered with various daily objects. Her husband urges her to quickly square them away. The article Xia Yin writes based on the interviews is rejected by her supervisor. The construction worker Gao is looking for help and Xia Yin travels to his native place to conduct an interview. The trip acquires an illusory quality, the facts that she had taken for granted come, are repudiated one by one. She meets a little girl, who later uses her own ways of leading the fatigued Xia Yin into an illusory moment gaining entrance into an alternate time-space. Xia Yin takes her leave of girl and is continually looking for Gao’s home. Lost like an errant spirit, Xia Yin can find no way out of the village.

Maggie by Yi Okseop – Korea | 2018 – 88 minutes
Section: New Currents

Orthopedic nurse Yoonyoung finds a little hole on a sidewalk. She throws a note into the hole that says, “The first thing you have to do when you fall into a pit isn’t to dig deeper but to come out of it quickly.”

Trailer:

Nothing or Everything by Kim Gyeol – Korea | 2018 – 85 minutes
Section: Korea Feature Competition

In both the past and the present, two people walk deep into a mountain forest. For these two women born and raised in the city, there is no place more unfamiliar. It is a place where all kinds of living things are breathing. Here, two people in the present hike the mountain, following two people from the past.

Trailer:

Orphans’ Blues by Kudo Riho – Japan | 2018 – 89 minutes
Section: International Feature Competition

Emma lives in a world where heat predominates. One day, she receives a painting from her missing childhood friend, Yang with whom she grew up together. Emma and Yang’s young brother Van set up a trip to find him. As they meet more people who knows Yang, Emma’s habit of forgetting things gets worse. She loses her memory as a wind blows on the sand. But they breathe the light out.

Trailer:

The Cat Funeral by Lee Jonghoon – Korea | 2014 – 107 minutes
Section: 10th Anniversary of Pitch & Catch

Musician Donghoon and cartoonist Jaehee first meet at their friend’s wedding. They fall in love with each other but ultimately break up. One year later, they meet again at their cat’s funeral. The kitty has given them one special day filled with past memories of love and the hopeful possibility of reunion. Can they rediscover their love again?

Trailer:

The Fearless and Vulnerable by Jeon Sungyeon – Korea | 2019 – 85 minutes
Section: Korean Feature Competition

If you don’t support any political party, make a feminist party! If you’re sexually harassed at a rally, make your voice heard! That’s that spirit that brought about the Femidangdang. The demand for solidarity makes things increasingly difficult, so why not just do this as a fun project? However, an ongoing controversy simmers among the members of the Femidangdang, each of whom has their own life and anxieties.

Trailer:

The Murmuring by Byun Youngjoo – Korea | 1995 – 100 minutes
Section: Korean Film 100 years – Women’s Faces in Korean Cinema

Seven ladies in their twilight years live in a house in Hyehwa, Seoul. The house is called ‘The House of Nanum (sharing)’. The ladies are survivors of the sexual slavery carried out by Japan during the Second World War. The film follows their lives for a year and a half, showing their struggles and daily lives.

Tiptoeing by Kwon Woojung – Korea | 2019 – 88 minutes
Section: Korea Feature Competition

When my daughter Jihoo was 1 year old, I took her to a doctor and heard something unexpected – ”She might have cerebral palsy”. Now that she is seven years old, she still continues to walk on her toes. This film is a self-reflective story of a woman who tries to dig into the emotional depths of feelings brought about by her daughter’s illness.

Trailer:

Us, Day by Day by Kangyu Garam – Korea | 2019 – 90 minutes
Section: Korean Feature Competition

To feminists of all generations – is life treating you well?

Trailer:

Zero as you are by Tokoi Miyuki – Japan | 2019 – 84 minutes
Section: Queen Rainbow

24-year-old Sky Kobayashi has been trying to find his true gender since childhood. Born as a girl, he was one of the first students in Japan to persuade a junior high school to accept a female as a boy. At 20, he underwent surgeries so that he could legally become a man, the youngest case in Japan. But this was just the beginning. Sky then discovered that he does not identify as a man either and is now searching beyond binary genders.

Trailer: