On August 11th, the Directors Guild of Korea (DGK) published a list of ten titles that a jury had found to have successfully met the requirements of the Bechdel Test 7. The exercise was first created in 2020 to bring attention to the lack of equal gender representation in Korean screen content.
The criteria of the test are as follows: First, the film should feature at least two female characters. Second, the female characters must talk to each other. Third, the characters must discuss something other than a man. Fourth, at least one of the creators behind the scenes, such as the director, filmmaker, screenwriter, and camera director, has to be a woman. Fifth, the film must feature a female lead who should have screen time equal to or more than that of any male co-star. Sixth, the female characters shouldn’t be portrayed stereotypically. Seventh, the film should not show any prejudice toward social minorities.
The films that are selected by these standards are Gull, Gyeong-ah’s Daughter, Ten Months, Anchor, Nothing Serious, Hommage, Missing Yoon, Perhaps Love, Snowball and Decision to Leave. The committee revealed that some films in the list may not meet all criteria as they’ve selected them based on whether or not they helped promote gender equality in the film industry.
Judges from the event shared, “We wish the Bechdel 10 to be a good opportunity for lesser known films to get recognized by many movie lovers.”
Source: DGK
