This section features films that explore the realm of Korean shamanism, (Mu, 巫), through phantoms, unfamiliarity, and ghosts. These works incorporate motifs of premodern wedding rituals to depict the return of women who were oppressed and tormented by male-dominated traditions, re-enacting cycles of desire and punishment.
Forest of Echoes visualizes punishment through the circular shape of a ring, whereas Hamjinabi turns a vertically structured festivity into a deathly carnival. While the former emphasizes female solidarity, the latter examines castration within the framework of a patriarchal wedding ceremony. Despite sharing thematic parallels, the two films craft distinctly different moods through their contrasting portrayals of returning spirits.
Meanwhile, Blades visualizes punishment as physical impairment brought on by the process of spirit possession. The story follows a young woman whose presence unsettles an experienced shaman and her son, stirring tension with her allure. The shaman, balancing her spiritual authority and maternal role, navigates between her spiritual daughter and her son. The son, once lethargic, is awakened by his emerging sexual desire, ultimately setting the divine in motion.
Through these three films, viewers are invited to experience echoes of desire resonating and intersecting in the liminal space between life and death.