Director HONG Jiyeong, who presented an experimental queer film, Blessedness: Monsters and Specters, at the 21st JEONJU IFF, has returned with another experimental film called THE WAVES, THE SAND, AND TWO LOVERS IN THE MIDDLE OF..... While the previous movie was closer to a feature film, this one takes on a more documentary style, presenting a macroscopic framework through dry narration and subtitles. Instead of focusing on the emotions of the two women in love, Yeong-jin and Jae-yeon, viewers are encouraged to follow their relationship within the framework. The rough images, filtered through a telephoto lens, reveal the lonely and forlorn love between the monster and the witch, who are ostracized and threatened by mainstream society. The film also brings back Adrienne Rich, an American human rights activist and lesbian poet who sought true solidarity through women’s language. This political film argues for the ‘brilliant failure’ of the LGBTQ+ community and women. (MOON Seok)