cup-o-robots

Just found out about this film, looks promising. If you have any “methods” in finding this film (festivals, DVD, whatever) let me know!

Empress Chung is an animated adaptation of the Korean folktale and narrative musical Shim chung jeon. It is a co-production of both South and North Korea. It will be released (almost) simultaneously in both regions: South Korea on August 12th and North Korea on August 15th, Liberation Day. The film has been making its way through festivals and picking up rave reviews. There are a few other joint produced animated films releases- plus, more in the works- and that’s pretty darn cool.

Korean film is really making an impact in the film world these days, if you didn’t already know. It has become very versatile and impressing the festival crowds, and even tapping into the general public (word-of-mouth has really given Oldboy a lot of attention) and there is a slew of American remakes on the way, from My Sassy Girl to Oldboy to even rumors of JSA (I know what you’re thinking.. “wha-huh?!”). Anyways, I’m hoping Korean animated features really take off internationally (hey, I’m a big fan of My Beautiful Girl, Mari ;)).

Fun fact: The director of Empress is none other than animation master Nelson Shin. His production house has done work for everything such as My Little Pony, The Simpsons, and Animaniacs. But to me, he will always be the director of The Transformers movie.