KOREFF
(Korea Refugee Film Festival)
Korea Refugee Film Festival (KOREFF) is an annual, official event commemorating the UN-set World Refugee Day. It is hosted by the community of Korean refugee human rights organizations, the Refugee Human Rights Network, in order to reach and connect with citizens and refugees. The most accessible medium of film has been be used to introduce people to refugees’ stories, not through news or cases, but through their lives. Refugee activists and refugees in Korea themselves have selected movies for this cultural event. Due to COVID-19 and to ensure greater participation, this year’s KOREFF is an online film festival.
Greetings
We Are All Connected: Beyond Distancing
The whole world is suffering due to COVID-19. Although everyone is confronted with this disaster, not everyone is exposed in the same way. Since COVID, selective implementation of disaster support policies, indiscriminate media coverage of minorities, and increased surveillance and racism are undermining the rights of minorities, including refugees.
Witnessing the fact that social distancing has gone beyond physical distance to social alienation, we ask about isolated lives before COVID. How can we ensure the safety of those who could not come out to the streets because they were refugees, those who have endured surveillance and identity checks, those constantly suspected and labelled as “fake,” those who are classified as incapable of living independently and locked into facilities for life, those who are not able to receive medical care due to fear of social stigma, or those who needed to isolate themselves because their mobility was not guaranteed?
COVID-19 is a disaster that cannot be overcome through stigma and the restriction of rights. Only when all people’s rights are guaranteed can we ensure our safety. “Mitakuye Oyasin” is a Native American maxim meaning that we are all connected. In this time of emergency, we need to go beyond social distancing, to strive for a sense of connection. The 2020 6th Korea Refugee Film Festival is coming to you with the message of “We Are All Connected: Beyond Distancing.”
Considering the safety of ‘all,’ we have decided to host this festival online. We hope that those who do not have the option of social distancing and those for whom quarantine and isolation are parts of their daily lives can participate in this festival. We hope this online format does not become another reason for separation, but a means for greater connection and access. We hope for an era of rights for all beyond distancing… We do not want to forget that we exist because you exist.
Film List
No Probland
Director Jaeyoung Yang
Country Republic of Korea
Production Year 2019
Running Time 69min
1. On his first day of work, Omar is notified that his employment is actually not confirmed. He sets out in search of work, even willing to sell legwork, to support the survival of his family back in his home country.
2. By chance, Adnan[ML2] gets cast in an independent film. He needs to act as though he is close with a child actor who seems to have never acted with, nor even seen, a Middle Easterner.
3. It’s ‘refugee kickboxer’ Oscar’s first competition in Korea. Is he one step closer to his dream? If he wins, will he have a bright future ahead? Will he able to live successfully in Korea?A perhaps normal but precious day in the life of three Yemeni refugee-applicants.
The Breath
Director Eu Suk Chae
Country Republic of Korea
Production Year 2017
Running Time 70min
Ghana Joti Srama and Mukta Chakma are the Jummas[ML3] , Bangladeshi indigenous people. They currently hold refugee status and have a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.Ghana earns daily wages by creating containers, and Mutka assembles showerhead components for a living. They live peaceful daily lives, but when there is violent disorder in their home country, they assemble with the other Zoomers.
Nowhere man
Director Jung Geun Kim
Country Republic of Korea
Production Year 2017
Running Time 17min
A is a refugee who escaped from Pakistan, a country rife with Shia-Sunni feuds, Taliban armed conflicts, and the Baluchistan conflicts. He lives in Korea with refugee status, but as the title suggests, A’s face is not visible. A’s voice merely flows over the spaces in which he lives. Nowhere Man records our short encounter with refugee A and enlightens us to the existence of refugees who are suddenly close by our side.
.jpg)
The Unforgotten
Director Paul Wu
Country UNHCR
Production Year 2018
Running Time 23min
9-year-old Hoda, from a displaced persons camp called Hasansham in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, has a hearing impairment. Despite this, he did not forego communicating with strangers who came to an unfamiliar land, and he left a deep impression in the hearts of those who visited him. Director Paul Wu revisits the camp and meets not only Hoda, but also other displaced peoples with disabilities and their families, examining the desperate situation of those who are further excluded from assistance.
The Displaced
Director Paul Wu
Country UNHCR
Production Year 2020
Running Time 20min
<Displaced> highlights the story of JAMILA and Ismail, an Iraqi displaced person who had no choice but to start a new life in a refugee camp after leaving his hometown, through the story of Jung Woo-sung, a goodwill ambassador to the UNHCR. The film shows how Yazidi ethnic minorities, Jamilla and Ismail, endure the weight of their lives and regain their resilience with the help of humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR. UNHCR protection officer Kim Ha-young talks about what she felt as a South Korean working in Iraq, like South Korea which suffered from the 1950-53 war.
.jpg)
Limbo
Director Paul Wu
Country UNHCR
Production Year 2017
Running Time 20min
The Syrian War that began in March of 2011 brought about one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. War and ruin forced millions of people out of their homes. Woo Sung Jung travels to listen to the story of one family in Beqaa, Lebanon, a city inhabited by over 1 million Syrian refugees. Baker Hasan and his wife, Jurie,[ML4] live with their three daughters, Lim, Asael, and 20-day-old Noor in their hometown, Aleppo, Syria. Their story is just one of the many refugee families’ stories.
Sanctuary
Director Paul Wu
Country UNHCR
Production Year 2019
Running Time 32min
Spring of 2018, around 500 Yemeni refugees left their devastated home country and arrived in Jeju Island, Korea. Woo Sung Jung traces the long journey of some of these refugees coming to Korea for a secure life. From Yemen, to Djibouti, to Malaysia, and finally Korea, why did the Yemeni families constantly have to leave. This film is the story of those who abandoned everything in search of a safe home in an unfamiliar land.
(HOST: Korea Refugee Rights Network, UNHCR Korea)
Korea Refugee Rights Network?
The Korea Refugee Rights Network was created in 2006 by Korean refugee-related organizations in order to legislate a new refugee law, beginning with basic research and debates. It had been called the Refugee Network or the Refugee Assistance Network, but from August 2018, we have changed its name to the Korea Refugee Rights Network. Its purpose is to protect the human rights of refugees in Korea, as well as stand against Korean society’s personal and collective discrimination of and hatred against vulnerable refugees.
The Korea Refugee Rights Network’s membership is composed of 28 groups and 4 special members, and we regularly hold meetings with the UNHCR and the Korean mission to share both domestic and foreign refugee-related issues. We also engage in civil liberty activities through the Working Group on issues such as refugee law, detention, children, entry and departure ports, treatment, education, etc.
In 2012, the organizations of the the Korea Refugee Rights Network’s have led a refugee law into enactment, and as a result, Korea was the first country in Asia to enact a refugee law. The Korea Refugee Rights Network has been actively involved to reform the Korean refugee protection policies as well as the perception of refugees in Korean society. Since 2011, it has campaigned on World Refugee Day (June 20th) to improve the public perception of refugees. In addition to advocating for the human rights of refugees, each organization has also held other events, including flash mobs, booth events, etc. every year to celebrate the 2015 June 20th World Refugee Day and to ensure that the issue of refugees is more accessible to a wider group of people.
*After Ticket Funding, you may watch the movie at this homepage in KOREFF period(13th June, - 27th June)
How to buy KOREFF tickets and merchandises
KOREFF is held annually by voluntary participation of refugee human rights activists and it is a non-profit film festival where the activists do not receive labor costs or seek profits.
Therefore, KOREFF is a film festival created by all members of our society who pursuits a new community in the global era. In order for the festival to take place every year and contribute to dissipate prejudice and misunderstanding, and promote coexistence, we sincerely need your support and participation.
*Before you participate, please read the information below:
1. The amount of money raised by tickets and merchandise is used only for the operation of the Korea Refugee Film Festival.
2. If you would like to have a donation receipt, please leave your alien registration number on an application form.
3. Please fill out your name that matches with your bank account name.
4. Once your funding is completed, we will send you a text message with a link and password to watch 7 refugee movies. It may take one or two days to confirm your payment.
5. Funding will end on June 26th, and films are available from June 13th to June 27th.
6. All merchandise will be produced after the festival and delivered to your address.
7. For the first 200 participants who transfer more than 15,000 KRW will additionally receive 5 postcards of Woo-sung Jung, the Goodwill Ambassador at the UN Refugee Agency.
The Reward Options
10,000 KRW = 7 Online Movies
15,000 KRW = 7 Online Movies + Postcard + Badge
20,000 KRW = 7 Online Movies + Postcard + Mobile Phone Holder
20,000 KRW = 7 Online Movies + Postcard + Masking Tape
35,000 KRW = 7 Online Movies + Postcard + Badge + Mobile Phone Holder + Masking Tape
1) BEYOND DISTANCING Postcard
.png)
-Material: matte coated paper (250g)
-Envelope included
2) Badge
.png)
-Gold plating
-Size: 20.5mm*27.5mm
3) Mobile Phone Holder
.png)
-Size: 5.5cm*5cm
-Material: black/white epoxy (heart-shaped grip)
-Printing: the epoxy material is expressed like water droplets. Unique and thick, warm toned and relatively light in color.
4) Masking Tape
.png)
-Size: 10m*25mm
-It is a reusable adhesive tape made of easy-to-tear paper backed with a relatively weak adhesive.
*The images above may differ from the actual products.
For any inquiries regarding the funding, please contact us via e-mail: koreff620@gmail.com. We will get back to you as soon as possible.