REGISTER: bit.ly/feministkorea14
Conversation with Na Young and Yurim Lee about feminist politics in Korea and the Korean diaspora
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Il Rhan Kim 김일란 is an influential documentary filmmaker and the co-founder of PINKS, an activist documentary collective that centers projects with queer feminist narratives. She directed MAMASANG: REMEMBER ME THIS WAY (2005) about sex work in US military base camp towns and 3xFTM (2008) about three transgender lives in transition. Kim also produced THE TIME OF OUR LIVES (2009) about the out lesbian activist and writer Choi Hyun-suk’s campaign for political office and NORA NOH (dir Kim Seong-hee, 2013) about the legendary fashion designer.
Kim is perhaps best known for her two films about the 2009 Yongsan tragedy in which five evictees and a police officer were killed during a violent police action. TWO DOORS (두 개의 문, dirs Kim Il-rhan and Hong Ji-you, 2012) painstakingly traces the escalation of events through court recordings, news footage, and eyewitness testimonies. THE REMNANTS (공동정범, dirs Lee Hyuk-sang, 2017) lays bare the heart-rending attempts to heal and reconcile among survivors and protestors including several who served time in prison for their role in the tragedy. The film won the Grand Prize at the Busan Film Critics Awards.
Ju Hui Judy Han is a cultural geographer and Assistant Professor in Gender Studies at UCLA, where she teaches classes on gender and sexuality, Korean studies, (im)mobilities, and comics. Her research and publications concern conservative religious formations, queer activism, and protest cultures. Judy grew up in Seoul and has lived and worked in Los Angeles, Berkeley/Oakland, Vancouver, and Toronto.