Korean Film Week 2020: A Century of Korean Women

Between tradition and modernity: The Korean Film Week 2020 deliberately focuses on the Korean woman and provides an insight into the life of “ordinary” Korean women in five selected feature films. In a cinematic foray through the last century, from Korea in the 1920s to the present day, the program focuses on the change of gender roles of women and the external and internal conflicts associated with it.

The film program introduces this change from tradition to modernity and takes the viewer into a time “in-between”. A time of rapid industrialization and urbanization of the country – a time of radical changes in the lives of women.

The festival will open with a classic of Korean cinema: THE HOUSEGUEST AND MY MOTHER (1961) by Shin Sang-ok. It tells the story of a young widow in Korea in the 1920s who sticks to the long-standing Confucian tradition of not marrying again. In YEONGJA’S HEYDAYS (1975), the rapid development of South Korea is discussed. The film follows Yeong-ja, who leaves her rural home to earn money for her family in the city – by working in a factory, as a bus conductor and ultimately as a prostitute.

The transition to the present is finally initiated by the two films LITTLE FOREST (2018) and OUR BODY (2018). Both films focus on young women in contemporary South Korea and let the viewer not only participate in their worries and thoughts, but also in their lives and everyday challenges: pressure and expectations of their own family, be it in the choice of job or their partners.

The film KIM JI-YOUNG, BORN 1982 (2019) is a special highlight and also the conclusion of the Korean Film Week 2020. Based on Cho Nam-joo’s bestseller of the same name from 2016, the film has climbed to 1st place in the Korean box office since its premiere and received much international attention. Kim Ji-young’s story is about the small and big injustices, patriarchal structures and sexist behaviors Korean women encounter in everyday lives – a story that shows „how it’s always been“ and how much should and must actually change.