Project K, a Korean Film Festival, has turned into a popular annual event at the Bockenheim campus at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Dubbed “Four Days in Seoul,” the festival is co-hosted by the Korean consul general of Frankfurt; KGN, an organization of second-generation Korean Germans, and the University’s Korean Studies Department. In addition to screening Korean box-office hits and experimental, shorts, animations and indie Korean films, the festival features activities that give students a chance to learn about Korean pop culture and traditions.

For a film festival, the 2013 promotional materials, shown here, seemed oddly lacking in anything cinematic at first, but on further reflection, the campaign strategy made perfect sense. Designed by Il-Ho Jung, the intriguing graphics were inspired by ornaments and patterns seen on traditional Korean wooden houses, combined with colorful Saekdong fashion stripes and Hangul calligraphy. To tie the cultural motifs to films, Il-Ho Jung integrated Korean masks exhibiting stylized reenactments of scenes from famous Korean films. The campaign and festival became one of those Gangnam-style kind of hits.