I'm a bit behind on this, but I thought I'd let my readers know of queer films at BIFF (Busan International Film Festival) this year.
The festival started on October 3rd and will be going on until the 10th. After sifting through 300 films (헐), I came up with only seven films with queer themes. Even though more films are screening, there are less queer films than last year. Sigh.
So, if you want some queerness in your BIFF, try to get tickets to these films. All of the synopses and photos were taken from BIFF's website:
In Hiding:
In the spring of 1944 in Poland, near the end of WWII, Janina faces a huge change in her life when her father decides to offer a shelter to his Jewish friend’s daughter Ester. One day, her father is arrested and Janina starts to take care of Ester by herself and in doing so secret emotions rise between
them.
Set in 1944 when Jewish people suffered severe persecution, this film illustrates obsessive love and its catastrophic effects on a woman. The lights moving between the world under the floor and that of the outside create attractive images while a dramatic story develops impressively. The actresses delicately portray the connection and intensity between two main characters. The expression of the Janina’s nature is compelling as she drifts between free artistic spirit and compulsive trauma from youth. This is one of the most outstanding films from Eastern Europe about WWII this year. (RHEE Soue-won)
Adele: Chapters 1 & 2:
Fifteen-year-old Adèle’s life changes completely when she meets blue-haired Emma. Emma is a door to Adèl’s desire and a guide to lead Adèle’s life to become a confident woman. Adèle grows up together with Emma, searches for her identity and gets lost, but succeeds in discovering it again. The latest work by world-renowned director Abdellatif Kechiche is the most sought-after film in international film community this year. Based on a French cartoon, Le bleu est une couleur chaude by Julie Maroh, this film shines for the outstanding performance of the two actresses. The talented filmmaker never allows a dull moment in the film’s around three-hour running time, and delivers a message that homosexuality is not a form of exceptional love but the love itself. With Steven Spielberg paying extraordinary compliments to the passion of star Lea Seydoux and star-to-be Adèle Exarchopoulos, the film received the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. (RHEE Soue-won)
Vic and Flow Saw a Bear:
Victoria just got out on parole, tasting freedom for the first time in years. Florence has done her time, and reconnects with her lover from prison. They hole up in a sugar shack out in the woods, relearning life on the outside. Guillaume is Vic’s parole officer. As he watches over the women’s reintegration, their different ambitions and personalities pull them farther and farther apart. When the past catches up with them, their freedom is profoundly jeopardized. Vic+Flo Saw a Bear is about two lesbian lovers who try to overcome their past and live the new life out of prison. The story is subtle with dark humor, and the each character is well developed and acted. Vic+Flo Saw a Bear is Deni Cote’s fifth narrative feature and has been introduced at many prestigious film festivals around the world such as Berlin and Karlovy Vary.
Stranger by the Lake:
At a summertime lake, a special space for men, Franck allows himself to be swept away by the lethal but magnetic Michel while sharing a friendship with Henri. One night, a man is murdered and Franck, the only witness, ultimately heads toward the uneasy intersection of love and death.
Like Alain Guiraudie’s previous films, this film takes on the subject of homosexuality, but this time a lake becomes the location for summertime erotic exploration and a Hitchcockian thriller about runaway infatuation. The film also features some uncensored love scenes that might be uncomfortable or even shocking. It is interesting that the naked bodies move as part of the nature along with the lake, sun, wind and forest, gradually becoming familiar at some point. Thanks to the variations of repetition and differences that occur within the lake, the main location, the characters and the entire film do not lose their unique rhythms. Winning the Best Director Award at Un Certain Regard, Guiraudie has upgraded to a higher level in terms of challenge to formality and the degree of completion. (RHEE Soue-won)
Jazz in Love:
A young, gay, Filipino, Jazz is in love with a middle-aged German man and is about to marry him. He is excited to be waiting at the airport for his fiancé flying to the Philippines to meet his parents for the first time. He is, however, also worried that his fiancé will not come. This excitement and anxiety are the consistent emotions shown throughout Jazz in Love. Jazz’s family say they understand his sexual identity and his choice to marry a foreigner, but their prejudices and biases keep surfacing. Meanwhile, Theo, the fiancé, becomes exhausted with Jazz’s indecisiveness and his family’s outward decorum. Their hearts pounded with love when they were apart but they start to pound with anxiety as their relationship confronts reality. Jazz in Love starts with the whisper of sweet love but doubt develops. Jazz seems to see the life in Germany as the exit from his poverty in the Philippines. While it keeps emphasising love beyond borders, the film also deals with the uneasy economic stratum and social issues. (CHO Young-jung)
Me, Myself and Mom:
Raised under a strict mother, Guillaume is unlike his two brothers… in a very feminine way. His father is disapproving of his main specialty – dressing up as a girl and acting like his mother. He is sent to a boarding school in England and is exposed to all kinds of threatening situations. French stand-up comedian Guillaume Gallienne makes his directorial debut, playing the main character he had previously presented on stage. As both the narrator and the hero of the film, he moves back and forth from past and present. Gallienne’s powerful command of the stage makes a sharp contrast with the weak narrator. The sexual confusion experienced by the hero borders on homosexuality, but the end of the movie helps us understand that there is more to the story; a deeper truth lies within the human nature of the hero and his mother. Gallienne makes an outstanding performance in the roles of “me”, “mum”, and other characters. Hilarious scenes are abundant in this top-notch comedy. (RHEE Soue-won)
The festival started on October 3rd and will be going on until the 10th. After sifting through 300 films (헐), I came up with only seven films with queer themes. Even though more films are screening, there are less queer films than last year. Sigh.
So, if you want some queerness in your BIFF, try to get tickets to these films. All of the synopses and photos were taken from BIFF's website:
In Hiding:
In the spring of 1944 in Poland, near the end of WWII, Janina faces a huge change in her life when her father decides to offer a shelter to his Jewish friend’s daughter Ester. One day, her father is arrested and Janina starts to take care of Ester by herself and in doing so secret emotions rise between
them.
Set in 1944 when Jewish people suffered severe persecution, this film illustrates obsessive love and its catastrophic effects on a woman. The lights moving between the world under the floor and that of the outside create attractive images while a dramatic story develops impressively. The actresses delicately portray the connection and intensity between two main characters. The expression of the Janina’s nature is compelling as she drifts between free artistic spirit and compulsive trauma from youth. This is one of the most outstanding films from Eastern Europe about WWII this year. (RHEE Soue-won)
Adele: Chapters 1 & 2:
Fifteen-year-old Adèle’s life changes completely when she meets blue-haired Emma. Emma is a door to Adèl’s desire and a guide to lead Adèle’s life to become a confident woman. Adèle grows up together with Emma, searches for her identity and gets lost, but succeeds in discovering it again. The latest work by world-renowned director Abdellatif Kechiche is the most sought-after film in international film community this year. Based on a French cartoon, Le bleu est une couleur chaude by Julie Maroh, this film shines for the outstanding performance of the two actresses. The talented filmmaker never allows a dull moment in the film’s around three-hour running time, and delivers a message that homosexuality is not a form of exceptional love but the love itself. With Steven Spielberg paying extraordinary compliments to the passion of star Lea Seydoux and star-to-be Adèle Exarchopoulos, the film received the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. (RHEE Soue-won)
Vic and Flow Saw a Bear:
Victoria just got out on parole, tasting freedom for the first time in years. Florence has done her time, and reconnects with her lover from prison. They hole up in a sugar shack out in the woods, relearning life on the outside. Guillaume is Vic’s parole officer. As he watches over the women’s reintegration, their different ambitions and personalities pull them farther and farther apart. When the past catches up with them, their freedom is profoundly jeopardized. Vic+Flo Saw a Bear is about two lesbian lovers who try to overcome their past and live the new life out of prison. The story is subtle with dark humor, and the each character is well developed and acted. Vic+Flo Saw a Bear is Deni Cote’s fifth narrative feature and has been introduced at many prestigious film festivals around the world such as Berlin and Karlovy Vary.
Stranger by the Lake:
Like Alain Guiraudie’s previous films, this film takes on the subject of homosexuality, but this time a lake becomes the location for summertime erotic exploration and a Hitchcockian thriller about runaway infatuation. The film also features some uncensored love scenes that might be uncomfortable or even shocking. It is interesting that the naked bodies move as part of the nature along with the lake, sun, wind and forest, gradually becoming familiar at some point. Thanks to the variations of repetition and differences that occur within the lake, the main location, the characters and the entire film do not lose their unique rhythms. Winning the Best Director Award at Un Certain Regard, Guiraudie has upgraded to a higher level in terms of challenge to formality and the degree of completion. (RHEE Soue-won)
Jazz in Love:
Me, Myself and Mom:
Recent comments