서울국제여성영화제

Under the slogan "We are so persistent!", the 25th SIWFF opens up the space to share present with each other who are persistently walking and to look for the next step. Now that the prolonged pandemic is over, how do we live our changed daily lives after suffering and overcoming both physical and psychological distances?

The 25th SIWFF invites novel ideas and possibilities of women and their stories to this year’s festival, hoping that everyone who goes through ever-changing life and conditions, faces various levels of barriers and questions, and lives in reality that seems to change and still hasn't changed, comes together and be interconnected

Even when it feels like standing in front of a fork in the road, or in a dark tunnel with no exit, we can still share our consolation and strength to continue our next steps through the moment of seeing each other and sharing hellos. We are so persistent! See you at the 25th SIWFF!

The story the 25th SIWFF hopes to share with the audience is concentrated in this year's slogan, “We Are So Persistent!” How are we living our daily lives that have changed as we went through and overcame the psychological and physical disconnection and distance that the long-term pandemic gave us? This year's film festival aims to patiently explore new problems and possibilities raised under the changing environment of life and to create a space where we, who face the walls and questions of various layers in a reality that seems to change but still does not change, and our stories connect. Here and now, we want to create a festival with the audience where we meet the present of each other walking together and separately but very persistently, and where we share comfort and strength to continue the next step.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, SIWFF will spare time to examine the path of women's films and estimate where we are now. SIWFF 25 Special - RE:Discover looks back at women's film festivals and women's film history, rediscovers and sheds new light on masterpieces of women's films, and introduces women's films, some already presented at SIWFF or the works that have inspired female filmmakers. This special section will be a place of commemoration and retrospection and also a chance to revisit the problem consciousness of the time and confirm the trail of the evolution of female narratives through works considered good examples of women's films.
In addition, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Korea's first female director Park Nam-ok, the festival opens the PARK Nam-ok's 100th Anniversary: First Women Filmmakers Revisited to look back on the cinematic legacy of the first-generation Korean female filmmakers Park Nam-ok and Hong Eun-won. In Memory of YOON Jeong-hee will be held to honor and cherish the memory of the late actor Yoon Jeong-hee, who passed away on January 19, 2023. Through this, we will have time to honor and remember female filmmakers who left a distinct mark on Korean film history and observe and shed light on their world from various angles. Let's explore together the impact of countless imprints of female filmmakers in the previous generation on women's films and narratives today.

Many recent films by female filmmakers, including Showing Up, the opening film of the 25th SIWFF, depict the lives and portraits of female artists working in various art fields, whether real or fictional and continue to stand out. This year's festival will feature a special theme exhibition called Women Making Art: Shouts & Whispersis a special exhibition that reviews the lives and works of women who continue to “ignite” toward the world through various art creations such as literature, music, and art and reflects on the viewpoints and aesthetic attempts of female film creators who reproduce them. This section introduces All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which presents the art world of photographer Nan Goldin, who captures the American underground culture of the 80s vibrantly and ongoing struggles. Also, meet Jane Campion, the Cinema Woman, which focuses on exploring the film world of Jane Campion, a world-renowned New Zealand female director. The Super 8 Years is a reconstructed history of individuals and society with the home video footage of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux's family. Through this special section, the audience can experience the gaze of female film creators who carefully study female artists' personal and social upheaval and reproduce their lives in a way that goes beyond attractive materials and topics.

The 25th SIWFF presents various works by emerging female directors worldwide. The number of entries and participating countries in this year's competition recorded the highest. Attendances can meet the diverse perspectives and works of contemporary female filmmakers who are becoming increasingly active at the film festival. Discovery section presents domestic and foreign female directors' first or second feature films. Asian Shorts is where moviegoers can watch short movies by Asian female directors, and I-Teens allows the audience to encounter the world of Korean teenage female directors. These three sections are firmly established as a venue to find and promote new female filmmakers over the years. Let's meet the notable moment of new global female directors, who raise various materials and formats that are challenging to summarize in one or two words at SIWFF.

The program of this year's film festival includes a wide range of famous works by world-class female directors who have introduced new works over the past year or two, ranging from the opening film to the New Currents section that collects new works on women's themes and films by female directors, and to the special themed exhibition Women Making Art: Shouts & Whispers. The 25th SIWFF will unveil the eighth feature film, Showing Up, by American independent film maestro Kelly Reichardt, which the world is paying attention to, for the first time in Korea as the opening film. In addition, the audience can check out the recent world-class veteran female directors who have been steadily working in the film industry and their work, such as Ingeborg Bachmann - Journey into the Desert, the new film of the world's leading female film director Margarethe Von Trotta, Canadian actor and director Sarah Polley's Women Talking, which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay this year, French director Catherine Corsini's Homecoming, which was screened in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, British feminist documentary director Pratibha Parmar's My Name Is Andrea, and more. The program will provide an opportunity to meet the recent trend of female narratives and various film aesthetic attempts by female directors who have recently received attention through prominent overseas film festivals. From works of emerging female directors, such as Australian director duo Soda Jerk's Hello Dankness, a unique work created using footage from various films, to Erica Tremblay's Fancy Dance.

Korean Panorama, Here & Now is a new section with a panoramic characteristic that screens films by female filmmakers and women-themed films produced in Korea and casts light on contemporary discussion and styles. Without limiting the subject and format, the section has collected works that have touched our hearts recently. Now and here, what is the reality of women shown in Korean films, and how does the work capture a woman's perspective? The 25th SIWFF presents 11 feature films and eight short films to share such concerns and questions with the audience. Through diverse and broad-spectrum works such as feature films, documentaries, and animations offered in Korean Panorama, Here & Now, hope to face women of a wide range of ages, careers, and concerns and to meet various formal attempts of female creators.

SIWFF has always been with films dealing with various issues around women from multiple angles. Also, this year, many films that look at various problems that women experience in reality, such as labor, reproduction, discrimination, environment, and violence, from their perspectives and speak about them in considerable ways will meet the audience. Polemics section focuses on the work of multiple generations of female filmmakers who have walked with concerns about documenting and reproducing under the theme of “Images, Describing Resistance.” Through this, the attendees will have the opportunity to return and explore the relationship between women and images. The Queer Rainbow section offers new queer films from around the world and seriously speaks about the real issues faced by minorities while also showing various formal attempts to reproduce queer. The Barrier Free section can broadly expand the meaning of watching a film by imagining various body parts that make and enjoy a movie. Let's be together with the multicolored questions that the movie gives.

Pitch&Catch, which discovers new women's film projects, and Film X Gender, a short film production support program that reveals gender issues in everyday life with creative eyes, welcomed 14th and 5th, respectively. Until now, the works completed with the support of SIWFF projects have not only created various images and voices of Korean films but have also been widely used as educational materials for gender awareness through the media. This year's Pitch&Catch will introduce a total of 10 new projects, including five feature films and five documentaries. The winners of the Documentary Ock Rang Award at Pitch&Catch Project Pitching will be screened at the film festival next year, and this year, Green Concrete (Work-In-Progress), directed by Lee Sung-min, the winner of 2022, will be screened. Among the diverse and brilliant ideas submitted to the Film X Gender, the two selected works this year are Lee Jiwon's Great Great Ancestor and Chae Hanyoung's The Cold Breath. SWIFF will continue to discover new female film projects and explore the potential of feminist film production.