[Film Festival] Picks from the 16th Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival, Part 2: ‘Asia Pride’ and ‘Special Pride’ Sections, ‘Korean Queer Film History’

※ Continued from the first article on picks from the 16th Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival.

The Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival’s “Asia Pride” section is a chance to discover a diverse range of queer films made in Asia. The section selects films that reflect the present day and tackle incisive themes, offering an unvarnished look at the lives of LGBTQ people across Asia. This year, it presents 11 short films from countries including India, Myanmar and Türkiye.

The standout film in this year’s Asia Pride lineup is 〈The Witch of Vihar Lake〉. In an Indian village where legends of a terrifying witch have been passed down, a timid child named Meethu grows up alongside his teenage sister, Ishita. As the children endure their parents’ ignorance and anger, the threat of the witch looms over them, while mystery and magic envelop their coming of age. The film also tells the story of the hijra community, and the reason it carries such force is clear. Across India, Pakistan and Nepal, hijras are respected as members of society and play their own roles in peaceful, prosperous times. But when conflict and crisis strike, they are the first to be sacrificed and the first to be erased. The director uses the trappings of folklore to symbolically expose questions of status and class.

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〈Tropical Rain of Love and Hate〉 follows Kau, a boy grappling with loneliness at home and stress at work. When his father is released from prison, Kau finds himself torn between wanting to rebuild his bond with his father and seeking a substitute for that relationship in the person he secretly loves at work. 〈Albas〉 tells the story of a child growing up in the Turkish countryside. The child struggles between the masculine role imposed on them and the identity they discover in a fairy tale. The more the child is forced to become a “wolf,” the sharper the divide grows between their inner self and the outside world. As its English title, 〈Wolf’s Egg〉, suggests, the wolf represents both what the child is expected to become and a state they have yet to reach.

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Programmer Kim Seung-hwan described this year’s Asia lineup through two regional lenses. “The fact that films from Northeast Asia remain under the influence of Confucian family values, while films from South and Southeast Asia return to questions of status and class, is not a limitation. It is an identity that Asian queer cinema is shaping for itself,” he said, noting that “just as the West created its own queer cinema in the 1980s while passing through the era of Christian thought and AIDS, Asia is now making its own films on its own terms.” This year’s “Asia Pride” section will offer a special opportunity to explore the lives of LGBTQ people across Asia and share in their concerns, while also enjoying distinctive works by talented Asian directors.

The “Special Pride” section presents special programs and retrospectives built around themes such as directors, actors, countries and eras. This year, it brings together 〈Jjim〉 and 〈Change〉, digitally restored in collaboration with the Korean Film Archive; six special screenings marking the publication of 『Korean Queer Film History 2022–2025』; and the “Community Voices” showcase. Documenting queer films that screened in Korea from 2022 to 2025 through criticism by five critics and interviews with five directors, 『Korean Queer Film History 2022–2025』 continues the “Korean Queer Film History” series launched by the Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival in 2019. The special screenings offer audiences a chance to revisit in theaters six films representing the period covered by the book.

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The lineup includes 〈Peacock〉 (2022), the opening film of the 12th Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival; 〈The World of Us〉 (2023), which won the Best New Director and Best Screenplay awards at the 45th Blue Dragon Film Awards; the animated film 〈That Summer〉 (2023), adapted from the short story of the same name by author Choi Eun-young; 〈Lucky, Apartment〉 (2024), the first narrative feature from Kang Yu-garam, known for her feminist documentaries; 〈3670〉 (2025), whose director won the Best New Director award at the 62nd Baeksang Arts Awards; and director Kim Jho Kwang-soo’s 〈Tell Me I Dreamed〉 (2025). From a transgender waacking dancer and a gay defector from North Korea to an older lesbian couple and an 18-year-old girl’s first love, the films bring together faces that have shaped Korean screens during this period, making for a meaningful gathering.

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“Community Voices” is a showcase spotlighting groups and individuals who have independently and organically created queer content in Korea. Their work, which has opened up paths for production and distribution centered on online platforms, represents another pillar of Korea’s queer-content ecosystem. This year, works by production company MATCHBOX and short films from “Saekdong Film Board Season 3” will meet audiences in theaters.

First up is MATCHBOX’s feature 〈Twisted Necktie: The Movie〉, directed by Lee Hae-rim. Then “KissKissX,” a short-form anthology project that captures a range of queer romances with intensity, returns for a second season. Moving beyond the BL genre of its first installment, the new season expands its universe to include GL stories. The festival will present a special screening of carefully selected films by emerging directors who break from established conventions and bring fresh perspectives. The five films are 〈Lock Off, Kiss On〉, 〈A Ghost’s First Love〉, 〈The Student Council President and the Hickey〉, 〈Under the Skin〉 and 〈Fixed Gaze〉.

The season has a distinct character. It reaches beyond fresh-faced campus romances to embrace horror and thrillers, exploring the expansion of queer romance into new genres. It also deftly depicts the reversal of power between the desire for control, packaged in the name of love, and those who turn that control to their advantage. A cool yet warm spectrum of emotions unfolds as characters trapped by other people’s gazes and social standards find a powerful motivation in love and begin to reclaim their true selves.

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Also included is “Prism of Color,” the third season of “Saekdong Film Board.” Saekdong Film Board is an independent film project in which gay participants gather in workshops to develop and make films themselves. There is great significance in the fact that people who are not professional filmmakers record their own stories in their own hands. The third season is titled “Prism of Color.” Just as a beam of light splits into multiple colors through a prism, the title reflects the idea that gay lives, though grouped under a single name, each have their own distinct hues. The four films screening this year portray very different lives. Lee Dong-min’s 〈A 49-Year-Old’s Heart〉 is about a new love for a gay man in his 50s; Jung Jang-hyuk’s 〈Dream Stage〉 follows solidarity among drag queens; Kim Sang-baek’s 〈A Box for Two〉 depicts the everyday life of a longtime couple; and Park Jae-hyun’s 〈Sara〉 explores violence inflicted in the name of faith. All four films will premiere at this year’s festival.

“Community Voices” brings together work by a production company that began online and films made through workshops organized by the participants themselves, screening them side by side in the same theater. The Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival respects the many voices creating queer content and will continue to offer support and encouragement to Korea’s queer film community. The 16th Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival, a gathering in solidarity presenting 116 queer films from 34 countries around the world, led by opening film 〈Black Ball〉, will take place at CGV Piccadilly 1958 from November 5 (Thursday) to November 11 (Wednesday).