Throwing a question about the multiculturalism in the street

It was last November 12 when the Multicultural Film Festival: ‘Multiculturalism, Blooming in the Movies’ as a project for youth and young children was held at Sarangtv Theater (Hongdae branch) hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and arranged by both the Rainbow Youth Center and the Korean Cultural & Arts Centers Association. As the audience of all ages began to enter the theater full of young energy, the young participants’ excitement grew higher.

The first movie, ‘Flowers Bloom in Every Boundary’ was a documentary which showed citizens’ answers in the street to the questions regarding ‘the multiculturalism’. This was filmed by the students in Gwanghwamun Square. The participants exchanged their opinion about the multiculturalism after watching this clip.

One of the participants said that he could strongly agree to the phrase in the movie, ‘Multiculturalism is Bibimbap.’ He explained, “Bibimbap is enriched with various vegetables and other ingredients, which makes our body healthy. Likewise, the multiculturalism is not limited to a certain people and culture, but is for everybody, which makes our society healthy.” However, another student negatively mentioned about another phrase. “I didn’t like the phrase, ‘Multiculture is a national power.’ I feel as if it dealt with only a nation and its culture rather than individuals.” Through the conversation, they showed a possibility that we can overcome cultural difference and be united into one.

Passion of the multicultural children expressed through films

Following the first movie, the Youth Film Project Camp Team showed their movie filmed during this summer under the title ‘2011 That Summer’. It was showing some cute children performing a community dance. Then, it was followed by ‘Suburb Boy & Girl Fly’ which dealt with stories of the children from multicultural families. The film began with the setting that there was a superman from China. Though the superman was supposed to rescue those who asked for help, he had difficulty in completing his mission because of the language. It was a comic story, but it was reflecting the agonies of the current multicultural families.

The following movie was ‘Daddy Is Daddy’ which was about Shijin born in North Korea and her new father in South Korea. To an adolescent girl, a father can be somebody annoying to her even though he might be her real father. But Shijin calls her new father ‘Mister’ and I wondered how she would get along with him. The scenes of interview with the real person and the scenes of action were naturally combined to add vividness to the film.

The last film was ‘On the Way to School’, a story of a Pakistani girl Lucy and the only friend of her Hyang-mi. The leading character was acted by Pamija a Pakistani girl who had moved to Korea when she was 3 years old. Her innocent expression and impact were outstanding in this movie. She said she decided to participate in this film-making project because she was very much interested in acting in a movie. She mentioned, “Through this opportunity, I was able to get to know about other participants better and become good friends with them.”

Meanwhile, another actor Ahn Yong-sang (2nd year student in Munsan High School) said he came to know about this project from Kim Tae-woo arts educator who had been teaching him at his high school. He said, “I was able to find true meaning of the multiculturalism.”

Kim and Joo Han-na researcher at the Rainbow Youth Center were supervising 20 students: 10 from multicultural families, and the other 10 from non-multicultural families. They said it was hard to get all twenty students together in one place since each student was too busy. In line with the goal of this film festival, the participants said they were able to become closer to one another beyond their different background and boundary. They said, “The film festival was something important to us because we could jump over the fence of cultural differences and communicate one another.”

Deeply moved while understanding one another

The children from multicultural families and their friends were able to learn not only about movie-making such as writing scenario, filming, editing, and acting, but also about the importance of cooperation and collaboration. The supervisors also felt achievement and joy of understanding while watching their students gradually changed. Besides, the audience enjoyed the same feeling as what they felt and was moved while watching the movie.

When the showing was over, the participants and the audience started to talk about their family and future dreams. The children already turned into an artist. I saw that the children from multicultural family had found their own dreams while having an experience of crossing the boundary.

Written & Photographed by Yamada Takako (Correspondent in Incheon)