Korean aims to animate world-class dreams

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Korean aims to animate world-class dreams

Choe Jin dreams of building his animation company, Enemes, to be as powerful and prestigious as Pixar Animation Studios, the world-famous U.S. company that produced hit films such as “Finding Nemo” and “Toy Story.”
He moved closer to his dream when his company received a Best Animation award at the 2007 Asia Television Awards for “Z-Squad,” an animated film about three girls trying to save the world from bad guys.
“The quality of Korean animation is now world-class, but not many people know it,” Choe said. “My mission is to promote our productions to the world.”
The success of Korean animation in part stems from strong funding from multinational companies, including Nelvana Limited, a Canadian entertainment company, and Korean Venture Capital Association. Enemes also contributed.
All 26 episodes of Z-Squad, created with Korean technology, aired on the Seoul Broadcasting System channel from December 2006 until September of this year.
Choe was a junior majoring in visual design at Dankook University in Seoul when the animation industry caught his attention.
He soon left for San Francisco to study animation at the Academy of Art College.
“I figured animation could be an excellent export item that can help overcome cultural differences around the world,” Choe said.
After graduating from the California art school, Choe worked at an American production studio making video games, music videos and animation.
He returned to Seoul in 2002 and set up Enemes, which is based in Seoul but has branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Sometimes selling animation can generate more profit than selling cars, as in the case of ‘Pokemon,’” Choe said.
“I would like to produce animation that kids around the world can enjoy.”


By Jung Jae-hong JoongAng Ilbo [enational@joongang.co.kr]
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