By Kim Young Deok and Hahm Hee-eun

Korea has a very special history of over 1,000 years of cultural exchanges with many Arab countries and communities, and those ties still continue today.

On June 2, the seventh Arab Film Festival in Korea was held at the Arthouse Momo in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, who is known for her film “Beauty and the Dogs” (2017), attended the festival. Kaouther Ben Hania fights against social pressure on women, and her film narrates the true story about a female college student who stood up to a policeman that tried to conceal sexual violence. Questions from the audience were pouring out to the director, proving the popularity of the film and support for the #MeToo movement.

Although the Arab Film Festival has become a paid event starting this year, people still showed a lot of interest in the one-and-only Arab film festival in Korea. In 2018, the number of cumulative audience members has surpassed 3,200, showing that a fixed group of fans is secured for Arabic films in Korea.

The Korea-Arab Society (KAS), which organized the Arab Film Festival in order to promote active cultural exchanges between Korea and all Arab countries, will celebrate its 10th anniversary on July 28. For the past 10 years, the KAS has been trying to fuse the two heterogeneous cultures by arranging cultural and artistic performances every year in both Korea and across the Arab world.

Since 2008, the KAS has hosted the Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan that introduces Korean heritage and traditions by performing traditional dances and b-boy dances and by hosting taekwondo demonstrations. So far, it has visited 17 of the 22 member states of the Arab League.



The accomplishments of the Arab Film Festival since 2011 cannot be ignored. Despite its small scale, the event has invited celebrated directors and actors from all over the Arab world, always with a theme that matches social issues each year.

In October, the KAS plans to launch the 11th Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan in four Arab countries along the Arabian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. In particular, the KAS is planning new performances that weren’t attempted before, such as classical music shows with soprano Jo Sumi and performances of samulnori, a traditional Korean percussion quartet. Moreover, the success of the Arab film festival in Korea is expected to lead to the success of a Korean film festival there, which will be held annually across the Arab region to help promote Korean heritage and traditions.

The secretary general of the KAS, Kim Jin-soo, said, “We would like to arrange more cultural and artistic performances, such as a Korean film festival and classical music performances, so that Korean arts, both old and new, can be well-known across the Arab region. We will devote our utmost efforts to making a new leap in terms of cultural exchanges between Korea and the Arab world.”

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kyd1991@korea.kr