LOS ANGELES — Growing up in Korea, Hyesung ii says her mother worked for a production company, so she was constantly surrounded by films.

“I remember watching Charlie Chaplin, ‘RoboCop,’ when it came out. I remember watching ‘Alien,’” she said.

As a Korean American woman, she’s especially proud to present a film series entitled, “A New Wave of K-Cinema: Korean Women Directors” at the Academy Museum.

“They are in a way underrepresented and so for me to just have a series like this and be able to share their voices and their stories through programming, it’s just very important to me,” ii said.

The series, which runs through June 29, highlights 10 contemporary Korean films on a variety of topics.

“[It’s about] trauma of violence, their physical, mental, psychological, emotional, and also investigation into gender and class politics and human relations to nature and environment and also love and friendship,” she said.

In 2017, when ii started researching for this series, she says just 12% of Korean films had female directors. By 2021, she says that number had jumped to about 22%.

“It’s definitely looking brighter, and I think that the society in Korea is definitely ready to hear stories through women and their voices,” ii said.

She says films like these are often less accessible to audiences in the U.S., especially on the big screen.

July Jung directed the film “Next Sohee,” based on a true story about a high school girl who takes an internship at a call center, where work conditions are horrific and exploitative. When the movie was first released in Korea, ii says it actually led to policy changes.

“The law had to change to protect these basically teenagers, high school, young, vulnerable people,” ii said.

She says these movies have a universal appeal and hopes viewers will enjoy the experience.

“These are works made by women directors, yes, but also to me, these are also just nice, great cinema period, regardless of their gender identity.”

She encourages viewers to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.

“I don’t believe in good movie, bad movie,” ii said. “It’s just some movies are a little less for you, but I think we can just learn about something, at least one thing out of every movie.”

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