SEK animation studio

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The SEK Animation Studio ( Scientific & Educational Film Studio of Korea ) is an animation film studio based in the North Korean capital Pyongyang . The company is known within the country as children's film production April 26th , internationally the English abbreviation SEK Studio is in use.

Emergence

The film studio was founded on April 26, 1953. Since the 1980s, SEK has received orders for animation work for foreign film productions. In 1987, SEK was equipped with modern animation studio technology by the French company CBR Technical Equipment. The film studio made its first international appearance in 1997 when it took part in an international animation film festival in France .

Companies

There is little information about the films produced by the SEK animation studio. According to unconfirmed reports, it is said to have worked on the animated films The Lion King and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, among others . Over 70 companies worldwide are to have production in SEK studios, including South Korean , European and American ones . The SEK-Studio is particularly attractive for international companies because of the low wage costs. A North Korean animation artist is said to earn the equivalent of just 3 US dollars a month. According to the company's own information to the ZDF culture magazine aspekte in 2004, the studio's 1,600 employees were able to produce up to 7,000 minutes of film a year. In 2014, the company situation was similar: According to official information, SEK produced up to 8,000 minutes of film with more than 1,500 animators.

Several French production companies (Pixibox, La Fabrique, Col.Ima.Son etc.) have made numerous animated films in co-production with SEK. Early examples are the children's film series Piff und Herkules (1989), which was first broadcast in German on RTLplus, and the science fiction / fantasy film Gandahar (title in the USA: Light Years , 1988), which is about resistance to a totalitarian social system.

The Canadian comic artist Guy Delisle spent two months at SEK-Trickfilmstudio in 2001 to supervise the work on an animation film on behalf of the French production company Protecrea. He later documented his experiences in the comic book Pyongyang , which was also translated into German.

A regular client of SEK is the Italy-based and globally active animation production and distribution company Mondo TV, for which the subsidiary MIM Mondo Igel Media AG works in Germany. The series produced by SEK illustrators for Mondo TV include: a. Pocahontas (1998), Spaghetti Family (2003) and Sandokan (1998/2001/2006). The children's film Barberbieni (2008), produced in cooperation with the German Catholic television company and RTL , was drawn by SEK in Pyongyang. Mondo TV, in collaboration with the Catholic Church, has partially produced other animated films in North Korea, including biographies about Pope John Paul II ( Karol , 2008) and the canonized Josemaría Escrivá (founder of Opus Dei , Il Viaggio di JM Escrivà , 2009) and Padre Pio (Capuchin, Padre Pio , 2006) and about Mother Teresa (founder of the order, Madre Teresa , 2010). In German-speaking countries, the adaptations of the children's book series about Felix the rabbit and Laura's star, produced by Mondo TV, are among the best-known animated films made by SEK in Pyongyang.

Economic sanctions imposed by the United States on North Korea and the human rights situation in the country make cooperation with the state-owned company problematic for foreign partners. The production of numerous films financed by the Catholic Church in North Korea is remarkable against the background of the persecution of Christians practiced in the country : North Korea has been in 1st place in the world persecution index compiled annually by the Christian organization Open Doors for years .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kim Chayon & Associates: SEK Film Studio (or 4.26 Children's Film Studio, 4.26 아동 영화 촬영소) ( Memento from March 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 24, 2011 (English)
  2. ↑ Participants' biogs and videos - Finalized as of 9 May. Short CV of the French animation producer Pierre Biecher. Archived from the original ; accessed on February 25, 2018 (English).
  3. ↑ Press release on an article in the ZDF culture magazine 'Aspects' from July 1, 2004
  4. ^ N. Korea joins animation fair in China. In: Yonhap News Agency of October 1, 2014, accessed October 7, 2015
  5. ↑ Pif et Hercule data sheet in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on August 24, 2011 (English)
  6. ↑ Gandahar data sheet in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on August 24, 2011 (English)
  7. ↑ Company information on Mondo TV  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.2 MB) by Dresdner Kleinwort , May 12, 2000 (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mondotv.it  
  8. ↑ Group Report and Accounts  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.3 MB) of the Mondo TV Group from the 3rd quarter of 2004 (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mondotv.it  
  9. ↑ Animated film about Escrivá. Report of July 22, 2008 on the German website of Opus Dei, accessed on August 24, 2011
  10. ^ Film catalog from Mondo TV 2009/2010 with multiple mentions of Studio SEK. Archived from the original ; accessed on February 25, 2018 (English).
  11. ↑ An Overview of Sanctions With Respect to North Korea (PDF; 256 kB) Overview of current US economic sanctions against North Korea, US Treasury Department, May 6, 2011
  12. ↑ Open Doors: World Tracking Index 2013 , accessed October 31, 2013.