By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Kim Aaron's noted feature debut "
LaLa Sunshine" opens Oct. 22 ― just a week after his romantic comedy "
Hello My Love". This is the first time that a newcomer's works are being released in theaters back to back.
"Sunshine" toured several film festivals, from Jeonju to Hong Kong and Lyon, France. In short, it showcases Kim's raw style before he got his feet wet in the mainstream cinema pool.
The movie mostly succeeds in creating something highly atmospheric with a meaningful experimental structure. Weighty subject matters such as rape, revenge and redemption spin out through a deliberate sense of disjointedness.
But flaws lie in its very strengths.
Deeply affecting scenes are often diluted by anticlimactic moments that are clearly not intended to reflect the protagonist's fragmented mind. The script's rawness ofte...
MoreBy Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
One of the world's largest and most influential film events for women, the 10th International Women's Film's Festival in Seoul (IWFFIS), came to a close Friday. The festival may have ended, but nine-days of enabling people to "see the world through women's eyes" left a lasting impression.
The festival celebrated its big birthday with a big party, showing 140 films from 30 countries. It attracted over 50 thousand people, including over 40 female cineastes and scholars from 14 countries. Screenings recorded an average capacity of 86 percent, with numerous sell-outs.
Special guests included esteemed directors such as Peng Xiaolian, the first Chinese filmmaker; Helena Trestikova, recipient of the 2007 Best Czech Documentary Film Award; and Barbara Hammer, who presented an intriguing documentary on women divers native to Jeju Island.
The IWFFIS, being a playground for artistic and intellectual discussion, held two seminars at Ewha Womans University. World-renowned professors Teresa de Lauretis, Meaghan Morris and others discussed the meaning of women's films and "cine-feminism". The film section "Female Bodies: Biopolitics and Body Politics" was the perfect compliment to the seminar "Women's Bodies in the Age of Bio-tech", drawing many more discussants and audiences to debate topics ranging from reproduction to plastic surgery.
This year's edi...
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