SIWFF News
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the filmmakers who showed their support and submitted their valuable works to the 28th Seoul International Women’s Film Festival.
This year, the festival received a total of 4,115 submissions from 125 countries around the world. After a thorough and careful review by the preliminary jury, six films have been selected as finalists for the I-Teens competition section.
We would like to once again thank all filmmakers who submitted their outstanding works and warmly congratulate this year’s finalists.
I-Teens (Alphabetical Order)
The I-Teens section, which showcases short films by teenage women filmmakers in Korea, received 51 submissions this year.
More than in any previous year, this year’s submissions followed with a calm and attentive gaze the subtle fractures and healing within everyday relationships, as well as feelings of solidarity and mourning. Beyond friendships and family relationships, the jury was particularly drawn to the earnest efforts of these teenage filmmakers to reflect broadly on the relationships that surround us: connections across generations and between humans and non-humans; social relationships shaped by the tension between independence and isolation; and even our relationship with artificial intelligence, which has emerged as one of the defining issues of our time. Throughout these reflections, they sought to discover new ways of approaching these relationships.
After extensive discussion, we selected five narrative films and one animated film that we felt explored these reflections through a more distinctly cinematic language while also moving closer to feminist forms and perspectives. The works that were not selected after long deliberation likewise left us looking forward to what comes next for I-Teens. We hope that these films, which discover the self through encounters with others and approach separation and farewell with warmth and care, will find other opportunities to meet audiences.
One point of regret was the relatively small number of documentary submissions. We hope these filmmakers will continue to remain curious about the diverse cinematic forms through which they can explore themselves and the world. As an unusually hot summer arrives early, with artificial intelligence, on-demand services, and the climate crisis increasingly shaping our lives, we invite audiences to encounter these six films in the cinema, each carrying the delicate sensibilities of teenage women filmmakers mediated through others. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude and encouragement to everyone who shared their work with us.
Preliminary Jury
PARK Sohyun (Filmmaker), SON Sinae (SIWFF Programmer)