Grace Period

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Overview

Combining documentary with experimental video, "Grace Period" documents the activities of female sex workers in the Yeongdeungpo red-light district in Seoul, South Korea. Facing constant police crackdowns and the threat of permanent closure following the opening of a massive shopping complex adjacent to their workplaces, the women of Yeongdeungpo band together in protest. Archival footage, mostly shot by the women themselves, shows their collective efforts as they organize with other sex workers from brothels across the country. In creative and daring acts of resistance, they launch a series of demonstrations that trace a lineage to Korea's democratic union movements of the 1980s-- denouncing the government and corporate interests, demanding decriminalization, and declaring their rights as workers.