The recently-ended Fourth Arab Film Festival shows growing public interest in Arab movies.

This year's event screened 10 critically-acclaimed movies from June 4 to 10 in Seoul and Busan.

About 8,000 people attended the annual festival, representing a 34-percent increase in the number of participants in Seoul and a 30-percent jump in Busan.

"We were very concerned about the timing because the screenings came when the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak was reaching its peak," Chung Yong-chill, secretary general of the Korea-Arab Society (KAS), said Sunday.

The KAS, established in 2008, organized the festival.

It was worried about the possible spread of the virus. The Seoul International Book Fair and the Latin America Festival were cancelled. Several embassies cancelled or delayed their scheduled events as well. .

"We are excited because many Koreans showed up despite the concern," Chung said.

Chung, former Korean ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), attributed the success of the film festival to the Korean public's "hunger for Arab culture," considering the lack of opportunities to appreciate it.

The screened movies provided a sneak peek into the Arab culture.

All seats were occupied during 26 screenings.

Director Ali F. Mostafa's "From A to B" was chosen as the opening film for the festival.

During the festival, the UAE director met Korean fans in Seoul and Busan during open talks and was quoted as saying that he was impressed by their deep interest and knowledge of the culture.

The child marriage movie, titled "I am Nojom, Age 10 and Divorced," was one of the most popular films during the festival.

Directed by female Yemeni filmmaker Khadija Al-Salami, the 2014 movie described the ordeal and rugged life of a 10-year-old girl who was forced to marry a 30-year-old man and suffered severe domestic violence and then divorced at the age of 11.

"Korean audiences who watched the Arab movies seemed to believe that although the circumstances and culture are different, they were able to find some commonalities with people described in the movies and this kind of have some sympathy toward them," a KAS official said.

According to Chung, the film festival has played a role to help Koreans better understand the Arab culture.

"Average Korean people would have a negative image of the Arab countries because the Western media have mostly focused on the rise of terrorism or conflicts in the region," he said. "The film festival has provided a unique opportunity for Koreans to have a sneak peek into the lifestyle, family relations, and what people in the region care about, things like that. And many Korean audiences find that people in Arab countries are not so different from us."

By Kang Hyun-kyung (hkang@koreatimes.co.kr)

Source from: 14 June 2015 The Korea Times
                 (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/06/116_180861.html)