Women Direct. Korean Indies! – Korean Women Independent Film Series (August 2022)

Venue: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre

Date: 2022.08.12 – 2022.08.13

Price: HK$80 / HK$64*

Encouraged by the welcoming response from our audiences last year, the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Seoul Independent Film Festival continue to bring you indie films by Korean women filmmakers! The liberal and ambitious spirit of Korean film development has allowed its creators to explore a great variety of stories and styles, and women are taking the stage to express themselves with films that are more widely available on global film distribution and festival circuits, gaining recognition and enriching different cultures.

This year, our selection carries on with telling stories of Korean women of different generations and their life choices – overcoming misfortune and stigmas to bring about new discoveries, enlightenments and connections with the hope of addressing realities that do not only involve women, but everyone – such as women's changing priorities in their role, the phenomenon of holojok (the growing number of people who prefer to be left alone in one-person households), ageism, sexism, labour exploitation, historical tragedies, etc.

Event Schedule

24/6 (Fri) 7:45pm Ten Months

26/6 (Sun) 3:00pm Ghost Walk

26/6 (Sun) 7:45pm Home Away from Home

16/7 (Sat) 2:30pm Boundary: Flaming Feminist Action

30/7 (Sat) 3:00pm Sister J

12/8 (Fri) 7:45pm The Slug

13/8 (Sat) 2:30pm An Old Lady

13/8 (Sat) 7:30pm Soup and Ideology

The Slug 태어나길 잘했어

12/8 (Fri) 7:45pm

Director: Choi Jin-young

*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

Moderator: Patrick Suen (Film Critic/Columnist)

Most Promising Talent Award, Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021

Nominated for Best Film, Grand Prix, Osaka Asian Film Festival 2021

Korean Cinema Today – Vision, Busan International Film Festival 2020

Seoul Independent Film Festival 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival (Canada) 2021

Cast: Kang Jin-ah, Park Hye-jin, Hong Sang-pyo

South Korea | 2020 | 99' | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Thinking back and forth

Thirty-something Chun-hee is uncomfortable in her own skin nor in her own house. Her parents have died after the IMF crises when she was a teenager, which leaves her under the care of resentful relatives. She is also constantly embarassed about her heavy sweat due to a medical condition. With a soft and empathetic nature, she gets on with life in a warm and accommodating manner. Until a day when she gets struck by lightning, her young self keeps appearing in flesh and bone, and they chat and live with each other. What do they want to tell each other?

Choi Jin-young's first feature has won critical acclaim. Lead actress Kang Jin-ah carries the character of Chun-hee with natural and versatile sensibility and grace. Choi's many short films also garnered success at many different festivals.

An Old Lady 69세

13/8 (Sat) 2:30pm

Director: Lim Sun-ae

*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

KNN Award, Busan International Film Festival 2019

Nominated for New Currents Award, Busan International Film Festival 2019

Future Lights, Taipei Film Festival 2020

Seoul Independent Film Festival 2019

Seoul International Women's Film Festival 2021

Cast: Ye Soo-jung, Ki Joo-bong, Kim Tae-hun

South Korea | 2020 | 99' | In Korean with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

A woman is never an old woman

Quiet and reserved 69-year-old Hyo-jeong is raped by a 29-year-old male nurse aide during physical therapy. She has no family nor friends, and turns to her co-habitant Dong-in to confide the crime. The case is reported to the police but no one believes her. The aide later claims that it is consensual sex, shocking both Hyo-jeong and Dong-in. Since no one can help her, Hyo-jeong has taken matters into her own hands.

Welcomed by audiences and critically acclaimed, Lim Sun-ae's debut directorial feature about stereotypes and violence against women and the elderly is unusual and enigmatic. Her short films participated in various festivals. She also worked as a storyboard artist for several feature films.

Soup and Ideology 수프와 이데올로기

13/8 (Sat) 7:30pm

Director: Yang Yong-hi

*Director will attend virtual after-screening talk.

White Goose Award, International Competition, DMZ International Documentary Film Festival 2021

Nominated for Best Documentary, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021

Seoul Independent Film Festival 2021

Japan, South Korea | 2021 | 119' | In Korean and Japanese with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

A secret that can be told

Following Yang Yong-hi's highly regarded and intriguing documentaries Dear Pyongyang (which was widely populat at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival last year) and Sona, the Other Myself on her life as a Zainichi Korean (a long-term Korean resident of Japan who traces their roots to Korea under Japanese rule), Yang continues her story on her family and identity in this latest documentary. One day, Yang's mother told her about the experience of being involved in the Jeju Uprising against the division of Korea between1948 and 1949, which made her leave Korea for Japan. 70 years after the massacre in Jeju, Yang and her Japanese fiancé took the Alzheimer's-ridden mother to Jeju Island.

Yang Yong-hi is an established director with multiple awards under her belt. The title Soup and Ideology refers to her belief that even if we have different values or ways of thinking, we should eat and live together without killing one another. She hopes her film can be a positive force for mutual understanding in differences.