The Institute for Korean Studies presents:
"Can Cinema Change the World? A Question from a Feminist Experimental Film Collective"
Hieyoon Kim
Brown University
Abstract: This research examines how cinema, particularly Korean cinema, has the potential to drive societal change. Focusing on cinema as an ecology—encompassing not just moving images, but the people, relations, and infrastructures involved—this study explores how filmmakers, distributors, and exhibitors have used film to challenge existing power structures. Using the 1970s feminist collective Khaidu as a case study, the talk highlights their efforts to expand public spaces for women through inclusive film language, festivals, and performances. While the direct impact of their work is difficult to measure, Khaidu’s influence on later filmmakers and critics is undeniable, sparking broader conversations about cinema’s transformative power.
Hieyoon Kim is a scholar of dissident culture and media with a focus on Korea. Her first book, Celluloid Democracy: Cinema and Politics in Cold War South Korea (UC Press, 2023), examines how Korean filmmakers, distributors, and exhibitors reshaped cinema in radically empowering ways amid political turbulence from liberation through the decades of military rule (1945–1987). Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Asian Studies, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Feminist Media Histories, and Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory. She is currently completing her second book titled Hereness in Twenty-First Century Audiovisual Media: The 1980 Gwangju Uprising Made Present.
