Work-in-Progress talk with Dong Hoon Kim, Cinema Studies, and 2025–26 OHC Faculty Research Fellow.

My project explores how North Korean cinema represents gender, sexuality, and national identity, particularly through representations of women and womanhood in major state-sponsored films. It examines how these films, while politically driven, gained mass popularity and reflected shifting national ideologies during key historical moments like the Korean War and the rise of Juche. Despite North Korea’s patriarchal structure, female characters in these films often embody revised socialist ideals and evolving national identities. By excavating film history to discover and unpack these North Korean women on film screen, the project aims to uncover the gender politics embedded in North Korean film culture and their broader societal implications.