Cyberspace is no more a purely virtual space now. Many of our lives happen in cyberspace: the necessities of life like shopping and making doctor’s appointments, learning and exchanging important information, and also, most notably, the most intimate conversations or emotional exchanges. Filmmaker Heddy Honigmann finds out how teen-girls who get hurt in real space find consolation in cyberspace and the courage to start their lives anew. All of the teenage girls in the film look for space to be able to heal their wounds and trauma on the internet: Saskia who is bullied a lot at school, Sanne who needs space to present her artistic talent, Samantha who was raped at the age of 15, and Debbie and Inge who both lost their mother to breast cancer. While one could think of them internet addicts who seek escape from reality, the girls maintain that the distinction between reality and the net is meaningless. Home is ‘always’ where the heart is. The title, ‘Emoticons’, signifies how the tenacious links of emotion in reality such as pain and consolation, love and betrayal, loss and hope pervade the net in code to present emotion in cyberspace. Heddy Honigmann’s Strength as a documentarist, who excels in grasping emotional honesty in her 25-year-documentary filmmaking, explodes with force in Emoticons. (Jay SOHN)