Seoul Women's Film Fest Marks 10 Years

The International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul (IWFFIS) celebrates a decade of upholding the female spirit and creativity by offering 141 films from 30 countries, April 10-18.

The world’s largest and most successful film event for women, IWFFIS has been a playground for women cineastes. But over the years, it grew to become a form of ``cultural movement’’ that explores feminine questions in larger context, as an important fiber of the social fabric.

Festival director Lee Hyae-kyoung (right/Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul) met with The Korea Times last week to discuss what it means to ``see the world through women’s eyes.’’

``Film theorist Laura Mulvey said the camera services male viewpoints and caters to their desires by objectifying females as an object of desire,’’ she said. ``The women’s film festival is not unrelated with the feminist movement. We aim to answer questions about how it would be to view the world driven by female desires and perspectives

``It also goes beyond women’s issues and fathoms what the female perspective means within the context of human and even non-human concerns, and what role it plays in creating new social systems and cultures,’’ she said.

Launched in 1997 as a humble biannual event, the film festival grew steadily. Unlike most festivals, IWFFIS is not state-funded, though it now receives generous support from the government. But whether it was small or big, the festival was always very popular, garnering an average of over 90 percent viewership for screenings _ rare for any given film event in the world. This is phenomenal considering that it caters to a largely female audience.

``Our aim is to instill in women confidence, nurturing the soul for a year until the next festival. It’s true we began as a separatist festival for women, with the female audience and filmmakers at the core. But we remained open and aimed to influence society as a simultaneous separatist and mainstreaming efforts,’’ she said.

Today, the female-male audience ratio is about 6:4. The festival is making efforts to expand to a wider audience in terms of age range. For moms, a day care center is prepared.

And in the spirit of opening up, the 10th edition of the festival features ``Open Cinema,’’ a lineup of works by male directors. ``Biological differences aren’t so important, male directors can treat women’s issues with a keen eye, while female directors can make action movies,’’ she said.

``Open Cinema is something we’ve been thinking of since our 4th edition of the festival. By opening up to males, we’re not losing our focus on women. It’s a sign of our openness and toleration, confidence and desire to communicate with a larger audience,’’ said Lee.

``While the festival retains a focus on women and social minorities, it also functions to a source of creativity and new, alternative values. If our efforts have thus far been geared to making things plausible and collective, we want our festival to help feminist values and philosophies to become a principal part of society,’’ she said.

``As society and values evolve, a women’s film festival does not have to disappear. It will continue to offer a unique perspective, not only in the context of Korean society but within Asia and in the world,’’ she said.

IWFFIS created the Berlin Asian Women’s Film Festival, which was launched last fall, and also collaborates with the festival in Chennai, India. While there are about 20 women’s cinema events in Europe, including the 30-year-old Creteil in France, and others in Asia, the Seoul festival is leading the pack.

What does it mean to ``see the world through women’s eyes’’? ``It’s hard to say in words,’’ said Lee, suggesting movies say more than a thousand words. She says one should watch at least five films to truly savor a festival.

``The themes vary, from dealing with sexual violence to postnatal depression, or it can have no theme at all. It can be very delicate or very violent. But in all, our festival allows women to express suppressed feelings and experiences in modern society. Most of all, it’s about creating alternative values in a post-modern society,’’ she said.