Better Understanding of Women

Under the slogan of "See the World Through Women's Eyes", the Women's Film Festival in Seoul (WFFIS) has helped improve the understanding of women's issues during the past eight years.

But, if you're under the impression that the festival is a boring and instructive series of feminist lectures, you're mistaken. In fact, the event has filled over 90 percent of its seats during past festivals and has attracted a diverse audience with interesting films and various other programs.

The festival, in its ninth year, will kick off this Thursday and run through April 12 at the Artreon Theater in Shinchon, northern Seoul.

"Our main concern is to maintain the balance", Kim Sun-ah, the chief programmer of WFFIS, said. "We try to offer a range of interesting films as a festival and at the same time deal with current important issues for women".

Opening with "Antonia _ O Filme" by Brazilian director Tata Amaral, the festival will show some 100 movies from 29 countries in seven categories.

The opening film is a story of four young Brazilian female friends who live in a poor neighborhood and form their own hip-hop group. They dream of making it big in show business, but they are up against the odds in an industry run predominantly by men.

The New Currents category showcases 26 recent films made by female filmmakers from 12 countries including the 2006 Italian film, "As the Shadow", by Marina Spada and the 2006 Czech film, "Pleasant Moments", by Vera Chytilova.

In the Retrospectives category, the audience can see masterpieces from Hungarian filmmaker Marta Meszaros _ a pioneer in female cinema in Eastern Europe.

Meszaros has directed 70 films in 50 years, dealing with issues such as pregnancy, abortion and discrimination. Five of her most representative works will be shown in the category dedicated to her.

This year, the festival attempts to address women as a minority in society in a category devoted to women migrants.

Women Migrants: Invisible People features 11 films about women migrants who live and labor within the currents of globalization.

Some of the must-see films include "She Is" by Korean director Joo Hyeon-Sook, which documents the reality and sufferings of Asian women in international marriages in South Korea, and "Maid for Sale" by Lebanon-born director Dima Al-Joundi, which deals with the slavery of Sri Lanka women.

The Empire and Feminism category includes six films, which illuminate women's life and history in the globalized and post-colonialized world.

They include the documentary film "View from a Grain of Sand" by American director Meena Nanji and another documentary "Enemies of Happiness" by Danish director Eva Mulvad, both of which look at the lives of women in Afghanistan.

The closing film will be the winner of the Asian Shorts Films & Video Competition, the only competition section in the festival with the participation of emerging Asian women filmmakers.

Along with the screening of films, seminars, forums and concerts are also scheduled.

The opening ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. at the Artreon Theater. Most films will be shown with English subtitles or in English with Korean subtitles.

The screening schedule is available on the WFFIS' Web site (Open the link). Tickets can be purchased via the Internet or at the box office.