Sung Moon and al., Am Independent-Beyond Mainstream:7 Women Film Directors, Jeonju Internatinal Film Festival, Jeonju, Propaganda, 2021
→Erika Balsom and Hila Peleg ed., Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image, MIT Press, 2022
→Gwangyu Mun, “A Study on Khai Du Club as an Experimental Filmmaking Club in 1970s and Director Han Ok-hee“, Hyundai Younghwa Yeongu (Contemporary Cinema Research Journal), Vol. 11 2011, 141-172
No Master Territories: Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, June 19–Aug 28, 2022/MAXXI, Rome, November 21–December 10, 2023
→Special Screening for Only the Young: Experimental Art in South Korea, 1960s-1970s, September 14, 2023, MMCA Film and Video, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul
→Han Okhi and the Films of Kaidu Club, Harvard Film Archive, Boston, USA, November 28–December 12, 2022
Korean experimental filmmaker and film critic.
Ohki Han studied Korean literature at Ewha Women’s University. While working as a journalist for a magazine, she encountered filmmakers, painters and writers of the young generation, who were trying to rebel against the established culture. She became interested in experimental film and found peers who shared her vision.
With Jeomseon Kim, Jeonghee Lee and others,Han established “Kaidu Club”, the first all-women experimental filmmaking club in Korea, named after the legendary Monglian female warrior Kaidu. Under the harsh dictatorship of the 1970s, known as the Yushin regime, films were strongly censored by the government. In Korean film of the 1970s, women were depicted as idealized by men, with the woman sacrificing herself for her lover. Film was considered to belong to the male, and was not allowed to women. At the same time, films were made for commercial use and not for any experimental, artistic purpose.
Han wanted to overcome these prejudices. The Kaidu Club organized the first experimental film festival in Korea from 27 to 31 July 1974. In the flyer, Han announced her vision as follows: “There are two prejudices in pre-existing cinema: filmmaking is a male job and the movie should be fun. We, as outsiders, will break these prejudices.” Han was against the patriarchal film industry in Korea and wanted to promote the creation of experimental films by women. She showed her 16 mm experimental film based on performances, The Hole (1973), The Middle Dog’s Day (1974) and The Rope (1974), in this festival.
On 19 April 1975 Kaidu Club organised a symposium entitled “Women and the Film World” at the USIS Press Center. It dealt with the following issues: ‘Females in the film industry’, ‘How do literature and film depict women’s characters?’ and ‘How can we encourage women’s participation in film production?’ – all subjects still relevant today.
Though their artistic practices had a huge influence on the cultural scene, it was impossible for Kaidu Club to continue. Some members left for personal reasons, and there were financial difficulties too. Kaidu Club showed only three films—Three Mirrors (1975) and 75-13 (1975) by Han and But we have to depart again (1975) by J. Lee. Kaidu Club’s Experimental Film Festival continued until 1977.
Han moved to Germany to study film in 1979 at Freie Universitaet Berlin and contributed reviews of films and plays to the culture magazine, “Gaekseok” (The Audience), as a correspondent in Germany. In 1988 Han returned to Korea and established Kaidu Production. She produced documentary and promotion films for national events: Running Korean (1993), Little Price’s Journey to the Earth (1999) etc.
When the 3rd Seoul International Women’s Film Festival published a Dictionary of Females in Film Industry in 2001, Han and Kaidu Club were highlighted for their practices ahead of time. Researchers such as Jonghan Choi and Gwangyu Mun published articles on work. Jeonju International Film Festival introduced her films along with those of six pioneering female filmmakers. Increasing numbers of film festivals and museums are also organising screenings of her work both domestically and internationally.