Seoul International Pride Film Festival kicks off on Nov. 2

The country’s largest queer film festival, Seoul International Pride Film Festival, kicks off on Nov. 2 at CGV Myeongdong Cine Library.

The weeklong festival will screen queer movies from 39 countries, including 27 world premiere films, 13 Asia premiere films and three Korea premiere films.

The British queer thriller flick “Femme” by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping will open the festival. “Femme” follows a young man called Jules, who becomes the target of a horrific homophobic attack that destroys his life and career.

The organizer of the festival said "Femme" was chosen to open the festival as it shows a global trend in queer movies in which films do not seek the audience’s understanding but rather delve into identity and expose everything in an extreme situation.

Filmmaker and screenwriter Kim-Jho Gwangsoo, also an executive chair of the festival, said this year’s festival would show a variety of queer movies. This approach has seen the genres it shows diversifying into horror, thriller, comedy and human drama in recent years, moving away from the traditional category of queer melodrama.

The festival ends on Nov. 8 with “Amerald,” a debut film by Dazed Korea Editor-in-Chief Lee Gyeom’s. The movie is an autobiographical story that follows four 19-year-old boys whose life is filled with fashion and music.