The 10th Seoul International Children's Film Festival Opens on the 15th

[Seoul District News] Guro-gu, Slogan 'Listening to Children' - 8 Days of Online and Offline Screenings at CineQ, Onfifn; Opening Film 'Woolya is Unstoppable' at CineQ Theater; Showcasing 157 Unreleased Films from 47 Countries and Award-Winning Overseas Works... Nowon-gu Receives UNICEF Child-Friendly City Advanced Certification... Geumcheon Han Family Health Walking Contest Held... Gangnam-gu Recruiting Participants for 'Our Neighborhood in the Metaverse' Youth Program... Yeongdeungpo-gu Recruiting Trainees for Home Care Expert School for Air Conditioner and Washing Machine Maintenance

9th Film Festival Opening Ceremony

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The 10th Seoul International Children's Film Festival will open on the 15th.

Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the Seoul International Children's Film Festival celebrates the 100th anniversary of Children's Day with an even more diverse program to engage audiences.

Under the slogan "Listening to Children," the festival will run for eight days from the 15th to the 22nd.

To announce the start of the festival with the audience, the opening ceremony will be held by screening a pre-produced video before the opening film. The opening film, "Ulya is Unstoppable," which depicts the challenges of a twelve-year-old girl named Ulya, will be shown at CineQ Sindorim Cinema. This film was selected to match the festival's slogan, which expresses a commitment to actively listen and respond to children's voices. The film comically critiques adults who suppress children's thoughts with authority and presents a vision of how children and adults can respect each other.

This year, 2,253 works from 108 countries were submitted to the festival. Among them, 157 works from 47 countries (43 feature films and 114 short films) that passed the preliminary screening will be shown at CineQ Sindorim, Dodam Dodam Theater, and the Onfifen online screening platform. It is expected that audiences will be able to enjoy works that are rarely seen in theaters, including unreleased domestic films and award-winning international festival films.

Various programs for audiences will also be held at CineQ Sindorim. On the 17th and 18th, after watching the films "CODA" and "Next Generation 3," respectively, a "Brave Talk" session will be held where experts discuss child-related issues in depth.

The "Visual Literacy" program includes creative activities with elementary school teachers after watching "Kenza in the Wind" on the 18th, and drawing activities with a cat illustrator after watching "Cats' Apartment" on the 19th.

An "Actors Talk" featuring actress Kim Hwan-hee, who starred in the film "Hello," and film journalist Lee Hwa-jung will also take place on the 18th.

The "Kids Docent" program, held on the 17th before watching "Battery Dad" and "Bad Friend," and on the 18th before "Beast of Asia," explains the films from a child's perspective and tells stories.

To commemorate Children's Day, an event advocating children's rights will be prepared in collaboration with Save the Children. On the 18th, after watching "Tae-il" at CineQ Sindorim and discussing child labor issues, a children's rights declaration march will be held at Dodam Dodam Theater.

Performances will be held at the outdoor terrace of Culture Railroad 959 near Sindorim Station at 7:30 p.m. on the 17th and 18th. On the 17th, indie band Haetbaragi will perform, and on the 18th, a magic show and balloon show will be presented.

From the 15th to the 21st, the Seoul Life Culture Center Sindorim will host "Yes Kids Zone," where participants can make bracelets, string art dreamcatchers, kaleidoscopes, and more, as well as "Kids Poster," an exhibition of drawings by children celebrating the 100th anniversary of Children's Day.

On the 19th, at the outdoor theater of Sindorim Opera House, the "Different Dreams" program will feature children discussing conflicts caused by generational gaps with their parents in a roundtable format titled "Adults Don't Know." On the 20th, at Dodam Dodam Theater, experts in child welfare, media, and education will hold a "Problematic Forum" discussing the creation of a healthy media environment for children.

The festival will conclude with a closing ceremony on the 22nd at Sindorim Technomart. The event will begin with a traditional Hanbok fashion show by professional models, followed by a red carpet attended by promotional ambassador Kim Hwan-hee, famous actors, directors, and film industry professionals. Highlights from the main competition films, congratulatory performances by the municipal boys and girls choir and invited singers, and an awards ceremony will follow.

Tickets for the films can be reserved online via the CineQ Sindorim website or app, or the Onfifen website, or purchased on-site at the CineQ Sindorim ticket box office. Ticket prices at CineQ are 7,000 KRW on weekdays and 8,000 KRW on weekends, while Onfifen prices vary by film.

A Guro District official said, "We hope many people will show interest and participate in this children's film festival, which features numerous works and diverse programs."

Nowon District (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it received the "Advanced Level Certification" for a Child-Friendly City from the UNICEF Korea Committee on May 30.

A UNICEF Child-Friendly City refers to a local government that realizes the fundamental spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and provides a child-friendly environment where all children under 18 can fully enjoy their rights.

Nowon District first received certification in 2018 and has now consecutively obtained the "Advanced Level Certification" this year. This advanced certification means that after evaluating changes and implementation results over the past four years, the district has been officially recognized as a higher-level child-friendly city than before.

To achieve this advanced certification, the district conducted a child-friendly city survey and child impact assessment, based on which it created a four-year roadmap. It selected 42 key projects, including ▲expanding and activating child participation ▲realizing the right to play ▲building integrated community care ▲strengthening child and youth protection systems ▲creating a safe living environment, and systematically implemented them.

First, the district implemented systems such as the "Child and Youth Council," "Participation Committee," and "Child Participation Budget," providing channels for children to directly propose and monitor child policies. The "I am also an Architect" program allows children to participate in the design and interior of public facilities related to children, realizing children's right to participate and helping them develop democratic citizenship skills.

To guarantee children's and youth's right to play, the district annually holds "Youth Festivals" planned by youth themselves and various "Sports Festivals," and supports leisure activities through projects such as the "Priming Club Support Project" and "Youth Hangout Creation."

Among Seoul's autonomous districts, Nowon has the largest number of 27 "Child Care Centers" and "Sick Child Care Centers," which are praised by related organizations and residents as exemplary cases of community child care. The district also received recognition for continuous efforts to build a community safety net, including "Shelters for Abused Children" and the "Nowon Child Protection Agency," earning the advanced certification.

The district plans to strengthen the quality of ongoing projects and discover new ones to become a sustainable child-friendly city by the next certification review in May 2026.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon District, said, "We were able to obtain the advanced certification as a result of various projects pursued with the belief that a happy Nowon for children is a happy Nowon for all." He added, "We will continue to strive to make Nowon a child-friendly city where children's rights are fully realized."

Geumcheon District (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) will hold the 74th "Happy Walking Geumcheon Family Health Walk" event on June 11.

Geumcheon District has been hosting monthly walking events to promote residents' health and foster community harmony. Although the events were suspended due to the spread of COVID-19, they resumed last December with limited participants on a first-come, first-served basis.

This upcoming health walk will be open to all Geumcheon residents without participant limits.

Participants will gather at 7:50 a.m. at Anyangcheon Multipurpose Plaza for light warm-up exercises and start walking at 8 a.m. They will walk a roughly 5 km course passing Geumcheon Bridge, turning back at Cheolsan Bridge, passing Anyangcheon Park Golf Course, and returning to Anyangcheon Multipurpose Plaza. A prize event will be held for those who complete the course.

Yoo Sung-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon District, said, "I hope this health walk will be an opportunity for residents, exhausted by COVID-19, to regain vitality in body and mind." He added, "We ask for active participation from those interested."

Gangnam District (Mayor Jung Soon-gyun) is recruiting 50 local elementary school students in grades 4 to 6 to participate in the second "2022 Metaverse Contest for Our Neighborhood I Want to Live In," following last year's event. Applications are open until the 15th.

Metaverse is a compound word combining "Meta," meaning virtual, and "Universe," meaning the real world, referring to a world where reality and virtuality coexist.

The district planned this contest to help local elementary students develop their ability to realize their imagination in the metaverse based on their understanding of the local area.

This year, in addition to "Creating Our Neighborhood I Want to Live In within the Metaverse," a new category "Making Our Village Characters with Pixel Art" has been added, providing an opportunity to strengthen skills in creating and managing NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), which are digital contents with proven originality and ownership.

The district will provide online and offline metaverse specialized education from the 18th to July 3rd for those who wish to participate, and accept submissions until July 10th. Twelve works will be selected by category, including one grand prize winner, two excellence award winners, and three encouragement award winners, who will receive the mayor's commendation and prizes up to 300,000 KRW. The works will also be produced into promotional videos for the district.

Local elementary students wishing to participate can apply via a Naver form. Detailed information is available on the district office website.

Yeongdeungpo District (Mayor Chae Hyun-il), in collaboration with Yeongdeungpo Youth Architecture School (hereafter Architecture School), is recruiting trainees for the "Home Care Technical Training Course" to build a local housing environment improvement platform.

The local housing environment improvement platform is a project aimed at solving employment issues by fostering youth-led housing management companies and related professionals to provide housing management services tailored to local needs, creating sustainable jobs.

In response to the recent growing interest and demand for personnel in home care services that create comfortable living environments, the district, in partnership with the Architecture School, has prepared the "Home Care Technical Training Course" to provide systematic education for professional workforce development.

This "Home Care Technical Training Course" conducted by the Architecture School offers education on the overall knowledge and skills related to disassembling and cleaning essential household appliances such as air conditioners and washing machines. The course includes general theory as well as practical training on various products.

The training is open to unemployed youth aged 18 to 39 residing in Seoul. Graduates of the course will be eligible to take and obtain the Cooling and Heating Equipment Hygiene Manager certification (a private qualification authorized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy).

The training period is from June 29 to July 7, and the course fee is fully free. Interested youth should download the application form from the Yeongdeungpo Youth Architecture School website and submit it via email to the person in charge by June 19.

After document screening and interviews, a total of 10 trainees will be finally selected.

Details on the schedule, curriculum, recruitment announcements, and other information can be found on the Yeongdeungpo Youth Architecture School website or by contacting the district's Social Economy Division or the Architecture School.

Meanwhile, in the second half of the year, the Architecture School plans to offer various housing environment-related technical training for youth, including basic recycling woodworking education using discarded furniture and practical training in home repair and interior design. It will also provide startup lectures and consulting support for youth aspiring to start businesses.

Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo District, said, "I hope this training will provide an opportunity to learn professional skills in the rapidly growing home care field and find new opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship." He added, "We will continue to prepare various youth support policies and educational programs so that many young people can develop their capabilities and realize their dreams."