서울국제여성영화제

The 27th Seoul International Women’s Film Festival introduces the slogan “Reimagining F” to envision a collective celebration that reimagines the many meanings of “F” and shapes a festival grounded in solidarity. The letter “F” reveals a wide range of meanings for us to explore-from film, festival, and female (women), which define SIWFF’s identity, to friendship, fellowship, feminism, freedom, and future-each offering a lens to reflect on the present and imagine new possibilities.
By embracing “F” as an open-ended symbol, the festival expands values beyond binary and biological distinctions, promoting inclusivity, diversity, and minority voices. Through cinema, we encounter women’s voices and lives-in public squares and everyday sites of action, where collective resistance and daily experiences coexist.
Just as “follow” in the social media era signifies new forms of connection and empathy, SIWFF encourages participants to imagine new languages of solidarity and engage with one another’s worlds through their unique sensibilities-together creating a shared space of understanding, dialogue, and celebration.

Discovery is an international competition section dedicated to first or second feature films by women directors from around the world. It showcases new works that expand the horizons of cinematic language through powerful women’s perspectives and storytelling approaches. The Grand Award and Excellence Award will be presented.

Asian Shorts is a competition section showcasing diverse short films by women filmmakers from Asia or of Asian descent. The Daphnelia Grand Award and Excellence Award will be presented.

I-Teens is a competition section showcasing short films by teenage Korean women filmmakers. The Grand Award and Excellence Award will be presented during the festival.

New Currents showcases recent standout films by women directors and notable works centered on women's lives from around the world. It offers insight into the current landscape and emerging trends in women’s cinema.

Korean Spectrum, Here & Now showcases recent works by women directors and films centered on women’s themes produced in Korea. It highlights contemporary discourse and stylistic trends in Korean cinema.

Polemics highlights timely feminist issues and cinematic agendas each year, creating a space for in-depth discussion through curated screenings and forums.
This year’s program, themed “Squares and Sites of Action ”, explores the meaning of the public square from a women’s perspective. It examines the square’s recent vibrant presence and the everyday sites that have either connected to or diverged from it, reflecting on the history of women’s struggles and protests.

Queer Rainbow showcases new queer films from around the world. It features works that reconsider social customs and human rights issues through a feminist-queer perspective and explore queer representation.

Helen Lee: Between Here and Elsewhere is a special retrospective spotlighting the cinematic world of Korean Canadian filmmaker Helen Lee, whose body of work has deeply explored the female body and memory, sexuality and gender, racial and cultural tensions, and diasporic identity through characters living on the margins. This program revisits twelve of her works spanning over thirty years and offers a rare opportunity to rediscover Helen Lee’s evolving cinematic language and political imagination.

Expanded Visions: Women Reframing India is a special section that brings together contemporary films by Indian women directors, as well as works by women filmmakers from around the world who reflect on Indian society and culture through a distinctly female perspective. These films move beyond the conventions of mainstream Bollywood to reimagine Indian life and identity with bold aesthetics, political insight, and intimate storytelling. Engaging with diverse genres and cinematic approaches, the program highlights a multiplicity of voices that reshape our understanding of contemporary India.

RE:Discover by Curation features films selected by special curators-filmmakers and experts from various fields-who choose works they wish to share with the audience. Each year, invited curators select films-whether classics or recent releases-to revisit with audiences, exploring them through contemporary perspectives on narrative, form, socio-cultural significance, and cinematic aesthetics.

SIWFF Project is a section that presents new Korean films developed through the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival’s creative support initiatives, which explore the expansion and diverse possibilities of women’s cinema. These include Pitch & Catch, a feature-length development pitching program led by women creators, and Film X Gender, a short film production grant co-organized with the Korea Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education.

Barrier Free presents a barrier-free version of a notable film, equipped with audio descriptions and subtitles that convey dialogue, speakers, music, and sound cues. By lowering viewing barriers, it offers a shared cinematic experience accessible to all audiences.