We present a list of 12 Films worth watching at the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival that will take place from June 2nd – 8th in Seoul (South Korea).

A Blue Mouthed Face by Kim Soo-jung – South Korea | 2015 – 113 min.
Fiction | New Currents Section

She is a head of household. She has an incompetent mother and an unsocial elder brother. Her life is a fight for survival itself. One day, she asks her mother who is fighting against a serious disease in the hospital to leave for the sake of her and her brother. After that, her mother disappears. She gets a new job and dreams of a life with roses all the way with her brother. But the brother does not open his heart to her anymore.

Schedule
06.05.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 4 – 17:30 pm

A Good Wife by Mirjana Karanovic – Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia | 2016 – 94 min.
Fiction | New Currents Section

Milena is a middle-aged wife and mother ensconced comfortably behind a gate in an upscale suburb of Belgrade. She quietly tends to her looks, dutifully cooks and entertains, and meets her friends for choir practice. She makes love with her husband and they socialize jauntily with a group of old friends. But unsettling realities are beginning to seep into Milena’s consciousness and disrupt her ordered world. One day while cleaning, she happens upon a videotape that incriminates her husband in horrific war crimes. A Good Wife is the story of how this secret reverberates in Milena’s life and eventually changes her.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.07.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 7 – 20:10 pm
06.08.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 4 – 20:00 pm

Breath by Mélanie Laurent – France | 2014 – 90 min.
Fiction | 120 Years of French Women’s Cinema

Charlie, caught in the whirlwind of her 17 years. A teenager almost like any other, on longer a child, far form an adult. Talented and pretty, yet prey to douts and disappointments. To solitude. Then Sarah chooses Charlie. And Charlie gets into it. Charlie laughs. Charli is full of life. Intensely. Irreparably, Sarah quickly has her fill. She is the type to throw away her cold, damaged leftovers..and pick herself another friend, another victim. Charlis feels lost. It’s only normal. Charlies is wounded. And it woll be fatal.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.02.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 20:30 pm
06.04.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 12:00 pm
06.07.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 4 – 16:30 pm

Fukushima, Mon Amour by Doris Dörrie – Germany | 2016 – 104 min.
Fiction | New Currents Section

Young German woman Marie escapes to Fukushima to change her life. Working with the organization Clowns4Help, she hopes to bring joy to 2011 nuclear disaster survivors, some still living in emergency shelters. Marie soon realizes she‘s absolutely unsuited to the task of making tragedy less wearisome. But instead of running away, Marie decides to stay with cantankerous old Satomi, the last geisha of Fukushima, who of her own accord has decided to retreat back to her ruined house in the formerly radioactive Exclusion Zone. Two women who couldn‘t be more different, but who – each in her own way – are trapped in the past and must learn to liberate themselves from guilt and the burden of memory.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.04.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 21:00 pm
06.05.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 21:30 pm

Miss Bulalacao by Ara Chawdhury – Philippines | 2015 – 92 min.
Fiction | Queer Rainbow Section

Miss Bulalacao is about a young drag queen, Dodong, who joins a barangay gay pageant to gain acceptance in his father’s community. He is instead met with hostility from his father, who chases him to a jungle, where he sobs to a lone bright star. What follows is the strangest night in his entire life, and an even stranger 9 months when he realizes he is pregnant. With only his stepmother, Lisa, as support, Dodong deals with ridicule from a barangay who does not believe him – until the rumors becomes a headline in a tabloid, “BAKLA, INA NG DIOS!” (FAG: MOTHER OF JESUS!).

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.03.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 5 – 13:00 pm
06.04.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 4 – 15:00 pm

Our Love Story by Lee Hyun-ju – South Korea | 2015 – 99 min.
Fiction | Queer Rainbow Section

Yoon-ju is a graduate student of fine arts and is working on her graduation exhibition. One day, while she is searching materials for her project, she runs into Ji-soo at a junk shop. Watching Ji-soo in an odd place, Yoon-ju finds herself drawn to her. After their initial encounter, Yoon-ju once again runs into Ji-soo at a convenience store, and the two eventually start dating. Never having enjoyed dating men, Yoon-ju finds Ji-soo fascinating and becomes completely infatuated with her.

Schedule
06.03.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 5 – 18:00 pm
06.06.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 5 – 13:00 pm

Polisse by Maïwenn – France | 2011 – 129 min.
Fiction | 120 Years of French Women’s Cinema

The daily grind for the police officers of the Child Protection Unit – taking in child molesters, busting underage pickpockets and chewing over relationship issues at lunch; interrogating abusive parents, taking statements from children, confronting the excesses of teen sexuality, enjoying solidarity with colleagues and laughing uncontrollably at the most unthinkable moments. Knowing the worst exists and living with it. How do these police officers balance their private lives and the reality they confront every working day? Fred, the group’s hypersensitive wild card, is going to have a hard time facing the scrutiny of Melissa, a photographer on a Ministry of the Interior assignment to document the unit.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.06.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 7 – 10:30 am
06.08.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 4 – 10:00 am

Snowy Road by Lee Na-jeong – South Korea | 2015 – 119 min.
Fiction | Polemics: Comfort Women – Memory. Commemoration and Films Section

There are two girls: Jong-boon, who is fed up with poverty-stricken life under the exploitation of Japanese empire and Young-ae, a pretty and smart girl who is adored by Jong-boon. One day, their sudden and unkowning falling into the captivity of barracks of Japapense army makes their lives wrapped in wretchedness. Jong-boon strives to be alive to get back home and Young-ae finds herself losing the grip on reality. They, nonetheless, lean on each other. Through lots of ups and downs, they manage to make an attempt to escape…

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.05.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 5 – 10:00 am

Spirits’ Homecoming by Cho Jung-rae – South Korea | 2015 – 127 min.
Fiction | Polemics: Comfort Women – Memory. Commemoration and Films Section

In 1943, an ingenuous 14-year-old girl, Jeong-min is taken away from her family by Japanese army. Jeongmin is accompanied with lots of other girls including Young-hee who also is brought in a train whose destination is unknown to the girls. Jeong-min and other girls are thrown out into the middle of a freezing battle field of World War II. What awaits them is the site filled with miserable pain and agony forged by Japanese soldiers.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.05.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 7 – 10:00 am

Suffragette by Sarah Gavron – UK | 2015 – 107 min.
Fiction | Opening Film

The time is 1912. The U.K. is seeing an increased public presence of the Suffragettes, whose rallying cry is “Votes for Women!” The epicenter of their national Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) is in London, where Maud is a working-class wife and mother; she and husband Sonny toil at a laundry. Startled one day by a protest, Maud recognizes a co-worker, Violet among the agitators. Initially unwilling to get involved in the Suffragette cause, Maud comes to realize that she must claim her dignity both at home and in her workplace.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.02.2016 – Megabox Sinchon M – 18:00 pm
06.04.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 14:00 pm
06.06.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 15:00 pm

There is No Lid on the Sea by Toyoshima Keisuke – Japan | 2015 – 84 min.
Fiction | New Currents Section

Mari leaves the city to return to her hometown. There, she meets a troubled burn victim, Hajime. Together, two girls find new life in a dying town. Missing her hometown by the coast, Mari quits her job in the city and returns home to start a business making shave ice, a dessert she loves. One day, she finds herself taking in a spiritually and physically wounded young woman named Hajime, who has burn marks on her face and has recently lost her beloved grandmother. Mari takes Hajime on to help with the shop, but opens to very few customers. Mari senses a growing rift between her and the locals who have watched their town’s fortunes sour. This summer story is about two girls looking for a fresh start.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.03.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 7 – 17:00 pm
06.05.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 2 – 11:50 am

What’s Between Us by Claudia Lorenz – Switzerland | 2015 – 94 min.
Fiction | New Currents Section

After eighteen years of marriage, Alice finds herself confronted with the fact that her husband Frank feels more and more attracted to men. Not only Frank, but also she and their three children undergo an irreversible change. The film uses simple scenes to tell of everyday family life – unspectacular, subtle and humane, sometimes sad, sometimes sanguine.

TRAILER (it will open in another window)

Schedule
06.07.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 7 – 10:00 am
06.08.2016 – Megabox Sinchon 5 – 10:30 am

For more information please visit the official website of the festival here: Seoul International Women’s Film Festival