Seoul Business Agency (CEO & President Kwan Oh-nam) announced that the Seoul Ani Cinema, owned by the Seoul Animation Center, will show 'Empress Chung,' the first animation film jointly produced by the two Koreas, for 3 weeks starting on August 18. The animated film has premiered in the South on August 12 and in the North on August 15, the day marking the 60th anniversary of Korean liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Based on a famous Korean folk tale of a daughter who sacrifices herself to restore her blind father's eyesight, the film has been produced jointly by animators from both South and North Korea for the past eight years.
"At first, I worried about North Korea's animation skills. But as I actually worked with them together, I found out that they really had a high technological ability", said Korean-born American Nelson Shin, director of the film, at the press conference late last month.
As the first Asian animator in Hollywood, Nelson Shin had joined making animations including 'The Simpsons' and 'Pink Panther.' Director Shin has produced "Empress Chung" to show the culture and 'the very Korea' features to the world out of his lifetime career and experience in the animation industry. Ambitiously planning to combine cultural excellence of Korea together with modernity to bring a commercial success, he had devoted himself to this film, 'Empress Chung' since June of 1998 with an investment of over 7 billion won.
The film has won the Special Award from Annecy's 'project competition' program (France, 2003) as well as the Grand prix for the best feature film from SICAF (Seoul International Cartoon-Animation Festival) 2004. In addition, it is invited to the world's famous animation festivals including Otawa International Animation Festival this year.
Established in January 2005 to contribute to active production of domestic animated films and their stable distribution, the Seoul Ani Cinema is the nation's first theater specializing in screening domestic short and feature-length animations. In that 'Empress Chung', the meaningful animation film made through a co-production of the two Korea, is open at the Seoul Ani Cinema, it will very much encourage the development of the animation industry.
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