with

The Korea Society
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)

Women represent only a small minority of the Korean film industry's behind-the-camera talent, yet they make up an impressive number of the industry's top filmmakers. Acclaimed director Yim Soon-rye explores the roles that she and her fellow women directors play in the industry in her documentary Keeping the Vision Alive: Women in Korean Filmmaking. Join us as we screen Keeping the Vision Alive, as well as Yim's short film The "Weight" of Her - a satire of the expectations Korean society places on women - followed by a discussion with award-winning documentary filmmaker Yunah Hong on the role of female filmmakers in Korea today.

Keeping the Vision Alive: Women in Korean Filmmaking
2001, 52 minutes

Keeping the Vision Alive retells the history of the Korean film industry to include the contributions of its female writers, editors, cinematographers, producers and directors. Using archival footage and interviews, including with Park Nam-ok, Korea's first female director, the film relates the sexism and other challenges its subjects struggle to overcome.

This short satire surveys the hidden life of a girls' high school and the tremendous social pressure to look good.

"Digital Kwangjang" communication technology provided through a generous grant from

Yim Soon-rye is one of the top South-Korean directors. Her first film, Three Friends (1996), played at film festivals around the world, including Berlin, Vancouver, Seattle and Pusan, where it won the NETPAC Award (prize for best Asian film). Her subsequent films include Waikiki Brothers (2001) as well as Forever the Moment, a major commercial and critical success, and winner of the prize for best film at Korea's 2008 Blue Dragon Awards.