Yim Soon-rye Hopes the Academy Museum’s Series Will Bring More Attention to Korean Women Directors

thewrap.com:

A New Wave of K-Cinema: Korean Women Directors,” The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is hoping to change that. Across the month of June, the Los Angeles museum is showing 10 contemporary Korean films made by women that “explore the complexities of diverse conditions, including the trauma of domestic violence, investigations into gender and class politics, humanity’s relation to nature and the environment, and love and friendship.” Hyesung ii, who organized “A New Wave of K-Cinema,” told TheWrap it is a series she has had in mind since she began working at the museum. “As a Korean woman in film myself, programming this series is perhaps a way to represent what I feel close to and what I believe is underrepresented in the industry.”The series launched last week with screenings of two films by Yim Soon-rye, one of the most celebrated auteurs in contemporary Korean cinema, with a discussion after.

After almost three decades in the industry Yim has directed more movies than any other woman in Korean cinema history: 13, including two short films and one documentary.The Academy Museum’s series screened Yim’s 2001 feature “Waikiki Brothers” and her 2018 movie “Little Forest.” “Waikiki Brothers” follows a group of high school friends turned bandmates who struggle to find gigs and motivation to continue their music-making in 1980s Korea. “Little Forest” is an adaptation of a slice-of-life manga about a young woman who abandons the life she is supposed to want in Seoul to return to the rural town she was raised in.Both are examples of Yim’s interest in telling authentic stories about ordinary Koreans, set away from the shiniest neighborhoods of Seoul or the idyllic, fictional small towns that feature in Netflix K-dramas. “I.