공감

On 22 June, members of Gonggam participated in the 9th Korea Refugee Film Festival. The Korea Refugee Film Festival (KOREFF) is an annual non-profit film festival co-hosted by UNHCR and the Korea Refugee Rights Network, a network of Korean CSOs that support refugees, which Gonggam is part of, to celebrate World Refugee Day (June 20). By conveying the stories of refugees through film, the festival aims to combat prejudice and misunderstanding about refugees and promote solidarity with refugees.

For this year’s festival, Ji Yoon Kang worked with other activists in the Korea Refugee Rights Network planning team to organize the event. Young-ah Park served as the moderator for a post-screening panel discussion, and Pillkyu Hwang served as a volunteer interpreter.

(Left) Poster for the 9th Korea Refugee Film Festival (Right) Members of Gonggam at the film festival

Now in its ninth year, the Korea Refugee Film Festival addressed the theme of the social integration of refugees, under the slogan “Today’s Me, Tomorrow’s We”.

In Korea, the refugee recognition rate is very low, around 1-2%, but even those who do manage to beat the odds still face many challenges in being recognized and living as full members of our society. Challenges such as prejudice and discrimination against refugees and migrants, language and cultural differences, and mental health issues due to persecution in their home countries are difficult to overcome alone, but there are few resources and systems in place to support them.

The first film to be screened was the Old Oak by Ken Loach, which follows the story of Syrian refugees and locals at an English former mining town as they overcome initial challenges and stand in solidarity with each other.

During the post-screening panel discussion, Young-ah Park joined activists Yeonwoo Ra and Seulgi Kang to discuss the challenges refugees face when living in the Korean society.

(Left) Young-ah Park moderating the post-screening discussion for the Old Oak (Right) Ji Yoon Kang moderating the post-screening discussion for For Sama

The second film, For Sama, is a documentary that the director recorded for the sake of her pregnant daughter, documenting the horrific events the director and her fellow citizens of Aleppo suffered during the repression of the Syrian Revolution. During the post- screening discussion, Ji Yoon Kang spoke with the director Waad al-Kateab, who joined remotely, and Abdul Wahab, the executive director of Help Syria, about the current situation in Syria and why the people had to leave.

The final screening featured two short films produced by UNHCR: Do I Belong? and Youth. The films depict the lives of refugee youth and Korean youth, and the post-screening session featured the youth who actually starred in the films and also participated in the production.

Outside the theater, members of the Korea Refugee Rights Network and refugee-led organizations set up booths offering various activities, such as trivia and hair braiding, for the attendees. Also, the participants in booth activities could collect stamps to enter a draw for various prizes.

Efforts to reform laws and institutions to protect minorities should go hand in hand with  efforts to improve the public perception of minorities including refugees. Last December, the Korean government proposed amendments to the Refugee Act that are contrary to its international legal obligations, explaining that such measures are necessary to prevent “terrorists” from being recognized as refugees. Gonggam will continue to engage in activities to raise public awareness so that prejudices against refugees and other minorities are not used politically to further weaken their protection.

We also plan to participate in next year’s Korea Refugee Film Festival, so if you missed this year’s festival, please join us next year!

Written by Ji Yoon Kang