Korea in Focus at Women’s Film Festival in India

NEW DELHI — In its fourth year, the Samsung Women’s International Film Festival will focus on a strong Korean and Indian section of feature films, short films and documentaries as well as a section on world cinema.

Featuring 135 films from 51 countries, the fest will include a showcase of films by Korean director Park Chan-Ok while a retrospective section will pay tribute to one of India’s most acclaimed actresses, the late Smita Patil.

Special screenings include a package of films from renowned U.K. filmmaker Kim Longinotto and acclaimed German director Monika Treut’s film Ghosted, with both events including panel discussions.

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SWIFF will conclude with a panel discussion titled “Freeing the Lens: Fact, Fiction and the Freedom of Expression ” including a screening of Tamil language film Sengadal (The Dead Sea) by Leena Manimekalai that tackles the controversial subject of human rights abuse in Sri Lanka.
 
To be held in the southern Indian city of Chennai and sponsored by Korean electronics giant Samsung, the festival is co-presented with Korean cultural body InKo Centre and various partners including the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) alongwith the Russian Centre of Science & Culture, one of the main festival venues.

Cultural partners also include Germany’s Goethe Institute, the British Council, Alliance Francaise Chennai, the Trans Asia Screen Culture Institute and government-backed body Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT).

In addition to the screenings, the fest will include a variety of seminars “to initiate and deepen discussions with film practitioners and viewers to enhance our understanding of this debatable question of what constitutes “a woman’s film.”

Assisted by the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul, the fest is curated by InKo Centre alongwith co-ordinators from the Korea National University of Arts. The festival’s principal curator is Chennai-based film researcher Dr. Vasanthi Sankaranarayana in addition to five international curators.