Closing of the Cultural Diversity Festival 'MAMP' with Immigrants

At the closing ceremony of the 'Cultural Diversity Festival MAMF 2020' held at Seongsan Art Hall in Changwon, Gyeongnam, Governor Kim Kyung-soo, grand prize winner Lee Tae-yang, and broadcaster Kim Je-dong are taking a commemorative photo at the short film contest awards ceremony.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Ju Cheol-in] The cultural diversity festival 'MAMF 2020' with migrants in Gyeongnam concluded on the afternoon of the 25th with the awards ceremony for the cultural diversity short film contest.

MAMF began with an online opening ceremony on the 23rd and featured various events such as the COVID-19 overcoming dance challenge, operation of a cultural diversity archive platform, and the Korea Migrant Song Festival.

On the final day of the event, the 25th, the closing ceremony was held at the Seongsan Art Hall small theater, combining a cultural diversity talk show and the short film contest awards ceremony.

The cultural diversity talk show featured Lee Cheol-seung, director of the Gyeongnam Migrant Labor Welfare Center, and seven migrant panelists, discussing topics such as 'Cultural differences of migrants, discrimination against foreigners, COVID-19, and South Korea.'

Broadcaster Kim Je-dong hosted the talk show, with migrant panelists including Alberto Mondi, Daniel Lindemann, and Ilya Belyakov, who are famous for their appearances on entertainment programs. The talk show was broadcast live on the MAMF YouTube channel.

The short film contest, held for the first time this year, focused on cultural diversity and had three categories: youth, university students, and migrants. The grand prize was awarded to Lee Tae-yang, while the category excellence awards went to Kim Tae-hyun (youth), Kang Dae-ho (university students), and Gu Na-im (migrants), respectively.

Governor Kim Kyung-soo gave the closing remarks, saying, “President Roh Moo-hyun once said that now all nationals residing in South Korea should be able to become Korean citizens through systems and culture,” adding, “I hope our Korea becomes a country that embraces everyone regardless of their country of origin and becomes a community where everyone lives together.”

Governor Kim also announced that the government resumed funding for the MAMF festival starting this year and expressed his commitment to working together to ensure continuous support.

Meanwhile, MAMF started in Seoul in 2005 with government support during the Roh Moo-hyun administration and has been held annually in Changwon since 2010 amid government neglect.