Factory Complex

Without a trace of sentimentality typical of such exposés, Im Heung-soon’s powerful film outlines the abusive, dangerous, grueling, and humiliating conditions under which “unskilled” female laborers in South Korea have worked for years. Talking-head interviews with women from a variety of low-paying professions (many of whom have organized strikes for better treatment) are interspersed with painterly compositions of their work environments or public spaces, artfully expressing the degradation and inequality they’ve suffered. These struggles are ultimately connected with female textile workers in neighboring Cambodia, with rare footage of how violently their protests were shut down by armed forces. Winner of the Silver Lion at the 2015 Venice Biennale.