Production Pitch
Homeground
KWON Aram
- South Korea
- 90min
- DCP
- color
Gender&Sexuality Place LGBTAIQ
Synopsis
‘Chanel’ was a women-only cafe located in Myeong-dong, Seoul in the 1970s. It was a hideout for young lesbians who used to be called Ms. Skirt and Mr. Pants. But in 1976, the place disappeared leaving a group photo of women in handcuffs after a ‘random’ search of businesses by the police.
Can these places become a home ground for the queer community in 2020?
Yunkim-Myeongwoo, a woman aged 65, is one of three bosses of ‘Lesvos’ who came out as a lesbian. She remembers the community in Myeong-dong inthe1970s as, “the only place she could breath.” She says that lesbians still do not have enough places to go freely. She opens up ‘Lesvos’ again in Itaewon, Seoul in December 2019, which had closed in 2009. Yujin, a 30-year-old woman, spent her childhood at ‘Shinchon Park.’ She remembers the park in the 2000s as, “an unbelievable dream place.” She opens up a K-pop dance studio, ‘Luddan,’ in Mangwon-dong, Seoul so that the queer community can dance while being themselves.
Yunkim-Myeongwoo and Yujin, are two people with the memories of Korean lesbians’ history and places.
‘Lesvos’ and ‘Luddan,’ queer places run by those two people.
Can these places become a home ground for the queer community in 2020?
Director's Statement
I’ve been to numerous rooms while making the documentary short film Queer Room in 2018. For some, it was makeshift tents in their living room that served as the backbone of their lives, and for others, it was a rented house where they could not use their own names for a contract. Collecting stories of ‘rooms’ that are at the boundary of places for sexual minorities, I’ve imagined rooms from the outside. That is because we cannot always stay in the room, and we evidently have a life outside the room. So, I started to search for and record the history left in queer places for lesbians.
People’s hearts open doors to new places and spaces, and situations that cannot be 'controlled force doors to close. Numerous stories have been written when such doors open and close. The stories create a crack in a seemingly strict city, and this film intends to collect such memories from spilling from the cracks in order to shed a new light on the city.
Director
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KWON Aram