"As-Salamu Alaykum!" Bangladeshi immigrant to Korea
Mahbub Alam Pollob, 38, says this Arabic greeting as an icebreaker when meeting new people.
It has been over 10 years already since he moved to Korea to find work.
Back in 1999, he started his Korean life as a factory worker, but now he is more than busy working as a documentary producer for migrant worker TV, a ranking Migrant Worker Film Festival official, a multilingual translator of Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and English and also an actor.
What's more, he has been working since 2007 as a multi-ethnic culture educator at elementary schools in his neighborhood.
"The number of non-Korean residents living in this country surpassed a million. So much so, many people call Korea a multicultural society and no more a homogeneous soc...
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Members of Mediact International Solidarity protest Tuesday in front of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for depriving Mediact of its contract to run Media Center, a state-subsidized media education facility, and hiring a conservative organization as new operator.
/ Korea Times Photo by Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
The Media Center, opened in 2002 and located on the fifth floor of the Ilmin Museum in Gwanghwamun, is a public cultural organization offering media education programs.
"We helped citizens to communicate socially though video clips, educated them about the media and rented out resources", said a representative of Mediact, the center's former operator.
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) funds the center's operation and selects the operator. When it opened, the Association of Korean Independent Film and Video (AKIFV) estab...
MoreRunning Nov. 26 through to Dec 18 under the catchphrase "Beautiful Co-existence", CJ-CGV holds the first Multicultural Film Festival, an event organized to acknowledge the more than 1 million foreigners living in Korea and to promote a better understanding of different cultures.
Opening Thursday, the festival will screen its 14-film program successively at CGV multiplexes in Daehangno in Seoul, Ansan in Gyeonggi Province, Guro in Seoul, and in Incheon. 14 films from countries including Vietnam, Turkey, Russia, India, Thailand, and Mongolia.
The opening night film will be Rain Dogs, a 2006 film from Malaysian director HO Yuhang. The goodwill ambassad...
MoreBy Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
The image of migrant workers in South Korea is usually limited to stark documentaries and news reports that become no more than somber sound bites and fragmented images.
Underway in Seoul until Sunday and in other parts of the country through September is the 4th Migrant Worker Film Festival, which spotlights the local foreign community and their migrant experiences through an array of films that breathe life, energy and feeling.
The majority of the 22 films from 14 countries are short works that showcase diverse styles and colorful perspectives that provide a well rounded look into the state of roaming ― and belonging.
Jason Kim presents a delightful, deliciously rhythmic piece "Hello" (Korea, 2008). Set against a chop-and-screw beat and chic urban visuals, the episodic drama features a couple of the most amiable screen personalities and the things that get lost in translation.
Chris is a smiley American who teaches English in Seoul and spends his free time toting his camera around town. He com...
MoreBy Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
"Jjambbong" is one of the most widely consumed local dishes, but it is neither Korean nor Chinese. The seafood noodle soup literally means "mixture".
The Migrant Worker Film Festival (MWFF) celebrates the jjambbong spirit in the cultural context. "It's about cultural jjambong or multiculturalism, mixing together. We need to recognize foreigners as being part of the Korean social fabric",
Mahbub Alam Pollob, a laborer-turned-cineaste and MWFF festival director, told The Korea Times in Seoul, Thursday.
The foreign resident population surpasses 1 million while the number of migrant workers exceeds 520,000. However, many South Koreans seize upon the outdated notion of the country being homogenous, save for the native speaker English teachers at local academies and occasional news reports or documentaries spotlighting exploited migrant workers.
"The press often portray us with a pitiful eye, but that makes people feel uncomfortable and avoid us more", said Alam, who has been living in Korea for 10 years and is married to a Korean.
"I feel how people treat me differently every day, on the street, the subway. Of course some people are just here to work temporarily and don't care to integrate. I'm not the representative for migrant work...
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