서울국제여성영화제

주 메뉴

Polemics: Sexual Politics of 'Room'

New Currents Special Screening of Polish Women's Cinema

Every year, SIWFF showcases films related with feminist issues to realize gender equality, expand feminist discourses, and improve gender sensitivity in the film industry. This year, the Polemics section looks back on the issues raised by the Me Too movement, digital sex crimes and female empowerment under the title of Sexual Politics of ‘Room.’ In contemporary Korea, a series of sex crimes has made headlines. For example, the Burning Sun scandal exposed the sexual assault, drug-related rapes, and sex services that take place at nightclubs. Celebrities were found to have committed digital sex crimes in their group chat rooms. Citizens demanded the reinvestigation of the sexual abuses and subsequent suicide of actress JANG Jayeon, and former vice justice minister KIM Hakui’s orgy scandal. SIWFF felt the urgent need to debate the politicization of “rooms.” For years, in different kinds of rooms, men satisfied their interests and desires either secretly or publicly to trade and share women, forming cartels to cement their power. These rooms are not private spaces which should be protected for privacy but public and political spaces which perpetuate patriarchal authority. In this sense, the Me Too movement and campaigns against digital sex crimes are a struggle to expose what occurs in these rooms and to demolish every wall, brick by brick. The Polemics section presents films that reveal the realities of cases like the Harvey WEINSTEIN scandal in the entertainment business, the Me Too movement, digital sex crimes, sexual abuses and the culture of gender-discrimination at work and among families, as well as female empowerment. These issues are explored by casting a light on the sexual politics of rooms.
BAE Juyeon / Programmer

LIST 8