The 11th KFFC 2024 is coming up very soon, and we are thrilled to screen the Canadian premier of The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin (2019, Korea) by KIM Dongryung and PARK Kyoungtae. The screening will take place at Cinéma Moderne on Friday, May 31st from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The Pregnant Tree and the Goblin (2019) has been invited to many film festivals such as International Film Festival Rotterdam (2020), Busan International Film Festival (2019), and Taiwan International Documentary Festival (2021). The film received an Executive Committee Special Award at Seoul Independent Film Festival (2019). It’s the first and only chance to see this film in Canada!

This film is in our “Side by Side” category curated by Mi-Jeong Lee, Founder and Artistic Director of KFFC, Arts East-West, and AAPLab. This film deals with similar themes in Cemetery of Splendor (2015, Thailand) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, as both films address the war zone body and the politics of historical and national memory.

Content Warning: discussion of military bases, prostitution, sex trade

Synopsis: This docu-fictional film combines elements of fantasy and historical reality in its reckoning with the afterlives of US military bases and sexual trauma, empowering Insun to take control of her own fate. The film is set in Uijungbu, Korea, a military camptown where the US and South Korean governments established “comfort women” stations to expand the sex trade for soldiers and military personnel. Filmmakers KIM Dongryung and PARK Kyoungtae have already focused on the issue of US military bases in their documentary Tour of Duty (2013).

You can get your ticket on our Eventbrite page.