On Wednesday December 31st, KIM Sae-hoon was appointed as the new chairman of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). KIM Jong-deok, the Minister of Culture, Sports & Tourism, appointed KIM Sae-hoon, an animation professor from Sejong University.

 

Chairman KIM Sae-hoon will serve a three-year term at KOFIC, from December 31st of 2014 until December 30th of 2017. KIM was born in 1964, and after finishing his undergraduate studies at Hongik University in Industrial Design, followed by a masters at UCLA’s Film & TV Animation department and a PhD at ChungAng University, he was appointed as the president of the Moving Image Technology Association of Korea, served as a KOFIC committee member, and worked as the president of The Animation Society of Korea. Not only that, with his history in main title design for Ruler of Your Own World (2002), The Blue in You (1992), as well as directing and producing a number of short animations, his hands-on experience will be highly relative when it comes to developing on-set policies.

 

Particularly due to his background and research in animation, games and video technology, Chairman KIM Sae-hoon is expected to contribute significantly to the development of the creative industries and is a welcome addition to KOFIC which strives to develop and improve the Korean film industry.

 

As for the new council members, three individuals were appointed. KIM Jong-kook is an alumnus of Dongguk University’s PhD program in Theatre and Film, who went on to produce the films Casablanca (2006) and Obbah: a Girl’s Elder Brother (2007). SHIN Bo-kyeong was one of the earliest Art Directors in Korea, working on Out to the World (1994), The Contact (1997) and Art Museum by the Zoo (1998) as well as working on production design for TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War (2004). The third member is PARK Jae-woo who has produced a variety of domestic and international animation and audiovisual works. The three new members will be serving the committee for two years, until December 30th of 2016.

 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism stated that due the newly appointed members and chairman being “professionals and experienced on-site,” they will be able to "forward and implement improvements to working conditions, build a fair environment for the industry, increase competitiveness of domestic family films, boost the export of domestic films, and improve cinema quality” for the development of the Korean film industry.