Last year’s Queer East festival closed with one of my favourite films of the year – Edhi Alice. This year it offers the opportunity to see two Korea-related documentaries and another of my favourite features from last year, 3670. There are also three Korean shorts screening. Altogether a tempting line-up, and that’s before you consider the wealth of films from other Asian countries.
3670
Dir Park Joonho (2025, 124mins)
Thursday 7 May, 8:25pm @Barbican Cinema | Ticket link
Cheol-jun is a young North Korean defector who has recently arrived in Seoul. Despite having two close friends among his fellow defectors, he has always felt isolated, forced to hide his gay identity. But after summoning up the courage to attend a drinks gathering, he meets Yeong-jun, who introduces him to a group of gay friends who meet up regularly in the city’s vibrant clubs and bars. Powered by an outstanding performance from Cho Yoo-hyun, 3670 is a milestone in South Korean queer cinema, casting aside stereotypes to authentically examine the conflicts, complexities, and behavioural codes of Seoul’s gay scene. The film’s title, 3670, is queer messaging code for a meetup: Jongno-3-ga metro station, Exit 6, 7pm – those invited then amend the 0 to indicate the number of people who will attend.
The Girl Princes (왕자가 된 소녀들)
Dir Kim Hye-jung (2011, 79mins)
Friday 8 May, 7pm @Centre 151| Ticket link
Female Gukgeuk, a form of musical theatre in which women played male roles, enjoyed a golden age in 1950s South Korea. Travelling around the country, these performers were intensely popular, representing a liberated feminine energy that was otherwise suppressed in a male-dominated society. This 2011 documentary traces the history of this phenomenon and follows some of these legendary actors – by then in their seventies and eighties, and still acting – as they reminisce about their shared experiences, performances, and camaraderie. While the heyday of Female Gukgeuk has long passed, director Kim Hye-jung looks at the legacy of these ‘girl princes’, astutely scrutinizing cultural tensions relating to gender performance, manliness, and disguise.
Between Goodbyes (UK premiere)
Dir: Jota Mun (2024, 96mins)
28 May, 6:10pm @BFI Southbank | Ticket link
This poignant documentary follows Mieke, a queer Korean adoptee who was raised in the Netherlands; and her birth mother, Okgyun, who lives in South Korea. Okgyun was forced to give up her daughter in 1982, in a context of concerns around overpopulation, economic hardship, and social pressure on women to have sons. Entering their lives six years after mother and daughter were reunited, the film addresses the historical legacy of mass overseas adoption. The documentary follows Mieke as she returns to Seoul with her wife, to celebrate their marriage with Okgyun and her family; there, the two women seek to reconcile with their painful pasts. Tenderly directed by Jota Mun – a Korean adoptee themself – this emotionally authentic film questions our understanding of what a family is.
Jota Mun (they/them) is the director and producer of Between Goodbyes, which had its world premiere at the DMZ International Film Festival, where they won the Emerging Filmmaker Award. The film was selected to screen at DOC NYC, Chicago International Film Festival, Santa Fe International Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Award for Feature Documentary, and CinemAsia Film Festival where it won the audience award. As an editor, Jota’s credits include the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Who Killed Malcolm X?.
BodyHacking (shorts programme)
Total running time: 85 mins.
Thursday 28 May, 8pm @Rich Mix | Ticket link
Programme includes:
How to get your man pregnant (안 할 이유 없는 임신)
Dir Noh Gyeong-mu (2023, 30 mins)
South Korea, 2030. After ten unsuccessful IVF attempts, a couple decide to try the latest medical breakthrough: male pregnancy.
Part 1. Camera and Toe (1부. 카메라와 발가락)
Dir Jeon Suhyun (2024, 4 mins)
A camera and a toe stick their heads into each other’s holes in this moody stop-motion animation.
Womb Mates (자궁메이트)
Dir Noh Hee-jeong (2025, 16 mins)
Min-hee is frustrated that her irregular menstrual cycle prevents her from being intimate with her girlfriend. One day, she comes across an app called Womb Mates where users can exchange uteruses.
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