The 12th International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul concluded this past Thursday. Among the many films shown was the Korean feature  PAJU, which had a theatrical run here and is now available on DVD. Like much of world cinema, Korean cinema is still dominated by male directors and by themes revolving around masculinity (see Kyung Hyun Kim’s THE REMASCULINIZATION OF KOREAN CINEMA). According to Korean film scholar Ahn Ji-Hye, before 1996, there were only five female directors to have made a feature film in Korea. This is why Lim Soon-Rye’s THREE FRIENDS (1996) is considered such a milestone. Since then, there has been more female directors making their debuts, but the percentage remains well under 10 %. And as of 2007, there remained only 29 female directors in Korean feature film history, an rather astonishingly low number. Thus, PAJU is still a rarity, the debut film of a female Korean director that has received distribution beyond the festival circuit. Park had previously worked as as assistant to Hong Sang-soo, and it does have in common with Hong a challenging narrative style that forces viewers to be attentive and consistently reevaluate and reconstruct the story that is unfolding. But her film is far more accessible in style than his work and is closer to popular Korean auteurs like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook. It is also a more political work, calling to mind some of the films of the first Korean New Wave prior to 1996, after which the art cinema of Korea moved into more personal territory. (SOME SPOILERS AHEAD) (more…)

Tickets are W55,000 at the door, W45,000 in advance including one free drink.

Upcoming at the Seoul Cinematheque  from April 6th-18th is a retrospective of the Hollywood director Elia Kazan. The films included are: GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT (1947), PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950), A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), EAST OF EDEN (1955), WILD RIVER (1960), and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961). The schedule is available here. There are few directors in American cinema history as controversial as Kazan, partially for his films but even more because of his naming of names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Because Kazan participated in the anti-Communist witch hunt and betrayed many of his former friends and colleagues, he has never been fully accepted by Hollywood. Even in 1999, when he was finally given an Academy Award for his body of work, there were many in attendance who did not stand or applaud. The blacklisted writer-director Abraham Polonsky even went so far as to say someone should use the occasion to shoot him. And as much as critics and even audiences like to separate art and politics, it has been a difficult divide to maintain in evaluating Kazan’s career. (more…)

This year’s International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul begins in less than two weeks. I have attended the last two years of the festival and been able to see a number of great films. In 2008, there was a screening of the South Korean film TAKE CARE OF MY CAT (2001) that included a (translated) Q & A with the the director Jeong Jae-Eun. In 2009, one of the favorite films of that year, Kelly Reichardt’s WENDY AND LUCY, had its only Korean screening at the festival. The schedule for the festival is now available in English here. Among the films I’m looking forward to: Suzanne Schneider’s THE DAY WILL COME, Park Chan-ok’s PAJU, Margarethe von Trotta’s VISION, Claire Denis’ WHITE MATERIAL, and Hana Makhmalbaf’s GREEN DAYS. There are also sections on Post-98 Indonesian Women’s Cinema, Queer Cinema, and Films on Maternity. The festival includes features as well as many short works, and there is a short film and video competition. All the screenings take place at the Artreon cinema, located between Sinchon station and Ehwa Women’s University station on subway line #2. There are numerous events associated with the festival as well, such as the International Conference on Wednesday, April 14th. A rare chance to see films from the perspective of female directors, who are still woefully underrepresented in world cinema, especially Hollywood (the fact that Kathryn Bigelow was the first female director to win an Academy Award this year is a testimony to this).

In terms of popularity in the West, Park Chan-wook (director of OLD BOY) is still probably the most well-known Korean director. But Bong Joon-ho is quickly gaining ground. His most recent film, MOTHER, which opened here last May and is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD (see review here), has received that rarity of rarities for foreign films: a (limited) North American theatrical release. Bong has also been touring with the film, giving introductions and Q & A sessions to enhance the understanding of his work. Part of Bong’s popularity is due to the fact that he likes to use familiar genres and provide his own revisions. This is certainly true of his three major works thus far: MEMORIES OF MURDER (2003), THE HOST (2006) and now MOTHER. But Bong’s directorial debut, BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE (aka A HIGHER ANIMAL), is a much different film, with no real genre affinity. As a result, it is his least well-known and available title. While not as rich as his later films, it is still an accomplished first attempt. (more…)