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 on August 6th.
The titles on the list include the commercial films Smugglers, Picnic, Citizen of a Kind and Sleep, and the indie titles A Letter from Kyoto, The Dream Songs, The Ripple, The Hill of Secrets, Jeong Sun and Hail to Hell.
Bechdel Day 2024 programmer Lee Hwa Jung shared her thoughts during the judging process: “One of the major issues we faced was recognizing the weak foundation of the Korean film industry. Despite these challenges, we found many films that upheld gender equality values, offered diverse perspectives to audiences, and maintained strong thematic integrity. I hope the judges’ evaluations will inspire more filmmakers to create similar works, as these films have worked hard to incorporate diverse voices.”
The Bechdel Test is an informal exercise introduced by comic strip artist Alison Bechdel in 1985. The test, which features three rules, was designed to highlight the lack of independent women and women-centric narratives in Hollywood cinema. The rules state that two female characters must be named, that two female characters must talk to each other and that the subject of their conversation cannot be a man.
The DGK expanded the test with four additional guidelines: one of the key crew members (director, producer, screenwriter, or cinematographer) must be a woman, the film must have a female lead with screen time equal to or greater than any male co-star, and the female character must not be portrayed in a stereotypical manner or exhibit prejudice towards social minorities.
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Beyond the highly anticipated ‘Bechdel Choice 10’ for films and series, Bechdel Day 2024 will also honor individuals making significant strides in gender equality. The Bechdelian Awards, recognizing outstanding contributions from directors, writers, actors, and producers, will be announced in August.
This year’s Bechdel Choice 10 and Bechdelian winners will be announced on the Bechdel Day 2024 website and official social media (@bechdelday). To cap off the celebration, a special event featuring a talk session with the Bechdelian awardees is scheduled for Saturday, September 7th, at Indie Space.
Source: DGK
