The “Global Film Festival,” hosted by the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE), kicked off on May 21 (Sat.) at the Floating Island in Banpo and Milim Cinema in Incheon. The film festival is a part of the agreement concluded last year between KOFICE and the Floating Island. This was part of their bid to create an arena of bilateral cultural exchanges with countries that have had limited exchanges with Korea by strengthening public understanding on their cultural aspects through movies. The global movie festival is expected to draw more audience by increasing the number of theaters that would join the festival throughout the country.

The outdoor film show at the Floating Island in Banpo Hangang Park, which marked its second anniversary this year, will showcase different movies every month from April to September of 2016. The first movie in the first half of the year (April–June) was a Kyrgyz movie, “Salam, New York!” (April 23, 7:00 pm), which received the Special Prize during the Seoul Drama Awards.

The <Global Film Festival> was also held at Milim Cinema in Incheon. The screening movies are shown every third Saturday from May to August of 2016. The program was the result of the foundation’s cooperation with Milim Cinema, a social enterprise dedicated to improving public awareness on multiculturalism by introducing movies from various countries such as Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Puerto Rico, etc., which are not easily accessible in Incheon where many foreign workers and migrant women live. The screening movies include “Salam, New York!” (May 21), “Our June” (June 18), “Looking for Maria Sanchez” (July 16), and “The Road of Promise” (August 20). 

Kwak Young-jin, the chairman of KOFICE that hosts the <Global Film Festival>, said “We are going to take a leading role in promoting the so-called ‘Good Hallyu’ with global citizens, rather than spreading it unilaterally, based on active cooperation with related authorities to encourage cultural exchanges in a mutual manner. We will create an environment where invisible cultural barriers are lowered and friendly exchanges with global people are further expanded by increasing the number of programs and screening areas to introduce good movies to more people.”