서울국제여성영화제

The Polemics section highlights key feminist agendas and cinematic topics each year through films and discussions. This year’s forum expands the theme of “Digital Sexual Politics and Transformative Thinking” by creating a space to re-read the age of technology from women’s perspective.From the reeling rooms of the Industrial Revolution to today’s semiconductor cleanrooms, from battlefields where images are reconstructed and algorithms select targets, to our current reality where generative AI has become part of daily life—the history of technology has always promised precision, cleanliness, and painless operations. Yet, beneath its seamless surface, what has been systematically erased is low-wage female labor disguised as "nimble-fingered" dexterity, and sick bodies dismissed as mere "sensitivity" or "hysteria." Pain does not simply vanish; it is transferred.

The injuries, disabilities, displacement, and recovery times invisible on the attacker's screen remain the sole burden of the society under attack. The "woman" erased by technology here does not wear a single face. From workers in reeling rooms and cleanrooms, to residents targeted by algorithms, to those stranded outside the gates of the AI industry—this year’s Forum examines what technology reveals and conceals from the varied standpoints of women, differentiated by class, race, and geopolitical position.The three presentations will dissect the underbelly of the seamless world promised by technology. At the same time, they will open a space for new encounters, exploring the possibility of criticizing and reappropriating that technology differently—not alone, but in the collective spirit of "Team Women."