Virgin Ghost
(post-production)
Short Experimental Film / 8 minutes / South Korea
Regardless of the reason for her death, her age and unmarried status dictate her to be a ‘Virgin Ghost’. Originated from the Joseon Dynasty or even further, Virgin Ghost is considered to have the biggest ‘Won Han’, and to be the object of the ultimate dread, ‘Won Gwi’ (寃鬼, a ghost with resentment and Han). It is considered the most feared and dangerous presence as it is seen as the biggest unstable and abnormal presence in patriarchal society. People believed that a woman transforms into a mother and an adult through rites of passage -marriage, pregnancy and childbirth- and could be recognized to be a ‘whole’ existence. Virgin Ghost is a soul pitiful yet filled with resentment that had no opportunity to release its sexual desire, to give birth to another life, to be a wife of a man. After a virgin woman died, to prevent the soul from becoming a Virgin Ghost, people made unnumbered efforts to placate the vengeful soul out of fear. They put men’s clothes on the corpse and placed the body face down; placed a straw doll accentuating male genitals in the coffin; buried the body in the intersection of the busy road to let the body have contact with male footsteps. In Gangwon region, they hold ‘Heojaebigut’ (posthumous marriage gut).
Creator & Director & Performer: Sa Gwi An Lok
Producers: Seonjae Kim and Sa Gwi An Lok
Director of Photography & Editor: Seonjae Kim
Production Assistant & Title Design: Haewon Lee
