The Seoul Women's Film Festival, which is held every two years, will open its third round for 8 exciting days from April 15. About 70 films will be screened under 8 categories, including 20 films that show the recent trends in women's films, the works of Agnes Varda, the mother of French Nouvelle Vague, films by Taiwanese women directors, and old Korean comedies from the sixties.

 

 depicts the beauty and cruelty of boxing through a woman boxer
depicts the beauty and cruelty of boxing through a woman boxer
In particular, the number of Asian short films competing has increased almost fivefold since the first festival. The growth of Asian films - both in quantity and quality - has led to great interest in the 20 or so films that are running in the finals.

One significant achievement of the festival is that it has widened its once local scope to embrace Asian women's films. This is evident in the purpose of the festival, which is to respond to growing global interest in Asian and women's films by discovering young women talent in Asia and going on to create a network of Asian film makers.

 

Life, love, and sex of a young woman named Viki in
Life, love, and sex of a young woman named Viki in
Another attraction is a forum on 'Making Films as a Woman in Asia,' with participants such as Prof. Daijinhua (Beijing University), Chairperson YushanHuang (Taiwan Film Festival executive committee), Prof. Kim So-young (National University of Arts School of Visual Art), Prof. Byun Jae-ran(SoonchunhyangUniversity), and Prof. Kim Eun-shil (Ehwa Women's University). They will be exploring the influence of women's films in Asia.

The Seoul Women's Film Festival was organized and opened for the first time in 1997 by the Women Culture and Arts Center. Since then, it has introduced a variety of cinematic viewpoints on the lives of women and discovered several talented women directors such as  Jang Hee-sun and  Chung Jae-eun. All in all, the festival has been an active link between women and visual art.

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