'Are you O.K. being touched today?': The question Korean film sets are finally starting to ask

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'Are you O.K. being touched today?': The question Korean film sets are finally starting to ask

Published: 29 May. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 29 May. 2025, 18:39

KIM JI-YE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

An image of a couple sleeping on a bed [GETTY IMAGES BANK]

In Im Kwon-taek's 1986 film “Gilsotteum,” female actor Lee Sang-a, then a middle school student, appears fully nude in a scene she later confirmed was filmed without her consent. When she expressed discomfort, the director told her to either comply or cover the cost of the production up to that point.

Lee resorted to shooting the whole movie, which included some more explicitly sexual scenes but almost two decades later, in 2015, she expressed regret over the filming in a TV talk show.

Cases like Lee's are not unique to Korea. Similar incidents have surfaced in Hollywood, too, most notably during the Me Too movement in 2017. However, while the U.S. film industry hastily responded by making what's called an intimacy coordinator a standard on set, Korea has been much slower to adapt. The occupation is still widely unknown in the country.

Now, professionals like Kwon Bo-ram, Korea's first certified intimacy coordinator, and director Lim Ha-yeon, who was first to deploy such a professional on a Korean film set in 2023, are trying to change that.

Kwon earned her professional intimacy coordinator certification in March after completing the Intimacy Professionals Association (IPA) course, which is accredited by Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

“When it comes to both dramas and films in Korea, I think there’s still a lot of ignorance regarding this issue,” Kwon told the Korea JoongAng Daily in an interview April.

Lee Sang-a plays young Hwa-young in Im Kwon-taek's 1986 film ″Gilsotteum.″ [SCREEN CAPTURE]

What is an intimacy coordinator?

Kwon has 10 years of experience in the entertainment industry, interacting with actors and crew. During that time, she heard many stories of unhealthy power dynamics and disrespect on sets — stories that ultimately led her to take on the challenge of becoming Korea's first certified intimacy coordinator.

“There were, and are, many cases where creators pressured actors into performing scenes without prior discussion, saying things like, ‘It doesn’t even have any lines — just do it,'” Kwon said.

It is easy to mistake an intimacy coordinator for someone who simply directs the physical movements of an intimate scene. But their role extends far beyond that.

They act as facilitators between actors and filmmakers — mediating communication, choreographing physical interactions and, most importantly, ensuring that personal boundaries are respected on and off screen for scenes involving nudity, intimate contact or hyper-exposure.

Korea's first certified intimacy coordinator, Kwon Bo-ram [KWON BO-RAM]

“A deep understanding of consent and boundary-setting is one of the most important parts of our work,” Kwon said. “We learn to ask actors questions like, ‘Are you O.K. with being touched today?’ or ‘Is touching under the waist or chest acceptable?’ Based on their answers, we set clear boundaries before filming.”

Lim, who worked with intimacy coordinator Momoko Nishiyama on the 2024 film “The Rib,” said when navigating sensitive scenes, and especially when requesting retakes, she would speak to Nishiyama rather than the lead actor.

“The coordinator would talk with the actor, who would communicate her comfort level or specific preferences,” Lim told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “That feedback would be passed onto me, and I would adjust accordingly. We continued to work through this ongoing communication.”

Intimacy coordinators are trained not only in choreography and communication, but also in trauma awareness, anti-racism, gender identity and modesty garments. During a fully nude scene involving the film’s lead male actor, Nishiyama came fully prepared — bringing nude-colored underwear for the actor’s lower body — and stayed on set throughout the shoot by his side, covering him with a gown between takes.

All parties working on explicit scenes receive care — even those who may, themselves, remain clothed.

“People often think the person being undressed needs protection — and they absolutely do — but so does the person doing the undressing,” Kwon said. “When an actor is the one taking someone’s clothes off, it can be overwhelming. The director might just say, 'Just rip it off!' and for the actor, it would be like, ‘But how? Where am I supposed to grab, and how exactly am I supposed to pull?’ No one tells you these things. That’s where the intimacy coordinator comes in.”

The work extends to crew members as well.

“We’re here to talk to everyone, asking them to come forward to us if they feel uncomfortable while filming a scene,” Kwon said.

A young couple in bed [GETTY IMAGES BANK]

Why don't more Korean film sets have intimacy coordinators?

Korean cinema has been in the global spotlight for some time now, especially after director Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019) made history by winning the Oscar for Best Picture. Since then, Korean productions have only grown grander, more spectacular and more intense.

Yet the term intimacy coordinator still sounds unfamiliar to many in Korea, including those in the film industry.

Kwon recalled the surprise of her classmates during her training when they learned she was the first and only Korean taking the course. She, too, couldn’t help but wonder why it hadn’t happened sooner.

“Korean content is booming globally right now, with K-culture, K-pop, K-dramas and films all gaining massive international attention,” Kwon said. “My classmates in the course kept asking why no one else from Korea had pursued this.”

Despite having finished the certified course early this year, Kwon still hasn't been able to find work on a set. Instead, she spends most of her time participating in seminars and film events to raise awareness — a path that differs from some of her classmates from other countries like Japan, many of whom are already working in the industry.

From left, film journalist Lee Eun-seon, director Lim Sun-ae, actor Leafy Kwon and intimacy coordinator Kwon Bo-ram participate in a forum about intimacy coordinators during the Jeonju International Film Festival on May 2. [THE CENTER FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN KOREAN FILMS DEUNDEUN]

Japan has been a step ahead, having introduced its first IPA-certified intimacy coordinator in 2021. Netflix Japan credited an intimacy coordinator for the first time in its 2021 film “Ride or Die.” There are five IPA-certified intimacy coordinators currently based in Japan.

But in Korea, some confusion still swirls around the responsibilities and necessity of the role, with some believing that intimacy coordinators get in the way of filmmakers' creativity, introducing an additional layer to a chaotic production process that's often already tight on time and budget.

Though the role is considered more of a standard practice in Hollywood, with more than 100 professionals currently working in the field, a similar stigma persists in the United States. For instance, Gwyneth Paltrow said in March that the presence of such a coordinator had “stifled” her in sexual scenes when shooting the upcoming film “Marty Supreme.”

Lim feels that those criticisms are unfounded.

“With the intimacy coordinator acting as a bridge for communication, I was able to express more clearly the kind of direction I wanted for the scene,” Lim said. “At the same time, the actor no longer had to worry about reading the director’s cues or feeling pressured as they could simply say, ‘I’m only comfortable going this far.'.”

“It’s not about questioning the director’s vision or asking why an intimate scene exists in the film in the first place,” Kwon agreed. “It’s about having a conversation to ensure the actor won’t be physically harmed or emotionally traumatized while performing the scene.”

Intimacy coordinator Kwon Bo-ram, right, signs a memorandum of understanding with The Center for Gender Equality in Korean Film Deundeun, in May. [THE CENTER FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN KOREAN FILMS DEUNDEUN]

Improvement on the horizon

When it comes to making intimacy coordinators standard on set, Kwon says Korea is still at a starting point.

Fortunately, the first steps are underway.

The Center for Gender Equality in Korean Film Deundeun, signed a memorandum of understanding with Kwon earlier with the goal of partnering to raise awareness of the role of intimacy coordinators and develop industrywide policies to support it.

“This agreement is not just a simple declaration,” the center said in a press release. “But it marks the first concrete step toward building a functional system that can be implemented on actual film and video production sets.”

Plans are also underway for students at the Korean Academy of Film Arts — established and operated by the Korean Film Council — to attend lectures by and collaborate with Kwon starting later this year, according to a film council insider.

Kwon, working hard in raising awareness of her job in the country, remains optimistic about this shift, as many show support and recognize the need for such a role.

“When I talked to people, like actors I know, about my job, most of them responded with, 'What’s that?' having no idea what it was,” Kwon said. “But when I asked them if they’d be open to working with an intimacy coordinator, they were all very enthusiastic.”

BY KIM JI-YE [[email protected]]