Korean Documentary: Home Ground/홈그라운드 18

This film is F-Rated

Celebrating the empowerment of women in the film industry. Read more >

From the archive

This film was last shown on 16 April 2024

In the mid-1990s, the first openly lesbian bar in South Korea, LesBos, opened its doors in Sinchon, Seoul. This documentary follows one of the bar’s proprietors, Myong-woo, whose witty commentary prompts a broader reflection on Seoul’s lesbian scene, and the evolution of the city’s queer spaces over the past five decades.

In her feature debut, Kwon Aram documents generational change as she makes connections between past and present: from the 1976 police raid on Chanel, a women-only café that existed in Myeong-dong in the 1970s, to the more recent threat posed by Covid-19 to community solidarity.

This is a film about a shared sense of belonging, and shared environments of kinship. Offering a rare insight into Seoul’s often-hidden lesbian history, Home Ground reveals the vibrancy and endurance of South Korea’s queer culture.

Screening in collaboration with Queer East as part of our Korean Documentary season in partnership with University of Sheffield School of East Asian Studies.

This film has not been rated by the BBFC, therefore we cannot allow entry to those under 18.