Film on sex worker's death wins best virtual reality award

Virtual reality film "Bloodless" by South Korean filmmaker Gina Kim won best VR film award at the Bogota International Film Festival, the movie's production company Crayon Film said Monday.

Earlier this year, the film won the best virtual reality story award at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and the best VR film award at the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

The 12-minute-long film is based on a real-life murder case in 1992 where an American soldier killed a Korean bar worker in one of the most horrific murder cases involving US soldiers in Korean history.

(Gina Kim's website)

Her body was discovered lying naked, soaked in blood, with an umbrella in her anus, and Coke and beer bottles in her vagina.

White detergent was sprayed all over her body.

At the "Artist Talk" session held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul in September, the director said she couldn't have made the film without virtual reality tools.

"It was a perfect tool for me to let the viewers more acutely feel the pain and sadness that the woman must have felt before she met a lonely death," the director said.

"In virtual reality, viewers can be where the action takes place. I didn't need to say a lot about what was going on. People can just feel it by themselves," she said at that time.

The film was shot at the Dongducheon camp town, located some 40 kilometers north of Seoul, where the murder took place. (Yonhap)