Sweet Dream + Fisherman's Fire + Intro by Chung Chong-hwa, Korean Film Archive

Early melodrama at its best! Sweet Dreams follows  bored housewife Ae-sun as she abandons her family to search for love and excitement in 1930s Seoul. The film presents a vision of modern city life, with the department store, the theatre, cafes and hotels, the site of most of the films action. Opening with a song bird in a cage, Sweet Dreamsoffers a debate on the role of women in 1930s Korea.  Mun Ye-bong, playing Ae-sun, demonstrates why she was one of the leading actresses of the period with her lively and dynamic performance. 

Fisherman’s Fire is the tale of In-soon, a young woman who is seduced away from her small fishing village only to fall into poverty on the harsh streets of the big city. Fisherman’s Fire presents the tension between rural communities and the new urban city experience via In-soon’s ill-fated experiences but concludes with a traditional melodramatic story of female redemption. 

The screening will be introduced by Chung Chong-hwa, Korean Film Archive.