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Hey, are the guys from TV, theater, or supermarket from our neighborhood?!

A festival of surprise, welcome, and friendship with animated friends,
The first ACCF Animated Collection, “Mokkoji: Find Your Friends from Animated Films!”

The “Hub City of Asian Culture,” a familiar name for Gwangju locals, is the name of a national cultural project that seeks to build a cultural city where diverse Asian cultures converge to communicate and exchange freely. In an age where culture and creativity emerge as core drivers for national development and competitiveness, this can mean that the most important industry for the country's future is being nurtured around Gwangju City.

As a “Hub City of Asian Culture,” Gwangju invests and nurtures different cultural industries that can represent Korea internationally. One such industry is the animated film industry, one of the most successful cases of Gwangju’s efforts. Gwangju Information & Content Agency, founded in 2002 to establish and nurture the infrastructure for the cultural industry in Gwangju, served as the spearhead for the city’s efforts to host the established and emerging animated film creators and to establish the infrastructure for the animated character industry in the region.

Successful series like the 2008 KBS “Colorful Crayon” and the 2010 EBS “Oops I-Kooo,” planned, created, and aired from Gwangju, established the potential and the competitiveness of regional content industries. I likewise joined the animated film industry in Gwangju, founding the Eyescream Studio in 2010 and launching the “Duda & Dada” series on EBS in 2013. This was followed by successful works that have drawn a strong following across the world, such as “Fire Robo,” “Bread Barbershop,” “Donggaebi,” “Galaxy Kids,” and “BeFamily.”

This successful resume has resulted in many content companies based around Seoul Metropolitan Area establishing branch offices in Gwangju, but the people of Gwangju, especially young children, do not really know that their favorite characters from animated film series live next to them in the neighborhood.

Perhaps the Asian Culture Center Foundation had realized this unfortunate fact. The event The first ACCF Animated Collection, “Mokkoji: Find Your Friends from Animated Films!” is an event that was created to bring together the popular characters from the Gwangju-based animated series with the people of the community. As a developer of one of these series that has gained a following in the global market, I was personally very happy to have this opportunity to come back home, so to speak, and meet my neighbors.

Eyescream Studio is currently preparing for the opening of the feature film based on the three-season animated film series, “Duda & Dada,” titled “The Secret of HUHU Island.” We participated in this event with a photo wall fashioned out of the feature film’s poster and a costume of the protagonist, Duda. Upon closer inspection, the mountain in the photo wall’s background is the Seoseokdae Rocks of Mudeungsan Mountain, Gwangju. This represents the creative team’s wish to include Gwangju’s unique charms, our home, and our work production site. We used a drone to make a 3D scan of the rock formation, and in the film, Seoseokdae has a significant role to play.

To my delight, some of our visitors recognized Seoseokdae, and at that moment, however short it was, I felt that the way they saw our work changed with a sense of connection. The fact that the space was filled with a joyful atmosphere, just by the presence of the creators and visitors communicating and interacting as fellow citizens and neighbors, is the greatest happiness and reward that a creator like me can have. I am sure all staff members who participated in this event felt the same, for animated films, as popular art, reveal their most fundamental raison d'être through interaction with the people.

Even in early agrarian societies, agricultural products represented the community as specialties. Today, when we go to supermarkets, we find products “from the region” that offer a sense of trust and familiarity to the residents and greater value and relatively affordable prices to the visitors. Today is a time when knowledge-based intangible assets are more valuable than ever. Products of Korean culture, as expressions of “soft power,” are welcomed worldwide as sought-after products. A rather frivolous thought had come to my mind on the “contents from the region” corners blooming across Gwangju in this age where knowledge-based industries become the center of our future. Through this event, I recognized that this hopeful future vision is becoming a reality. On the other hand, I felt I was able to pay something back to the community for everything they had done for us.

ACC was established as a cradle for Asian culture and beyond, and it is a proud part of our community. At least for me. I hope we will have more opportunities to communicate with the public in different ways and forms. Through that, I hope we can discuss with our neighbors how much our children have grown and what awards they won and share the joys and laughter of bringing up our animated children.