Empress Chung

Empress Chung (Korean: 왕후심청; Hanja: 王后沈淸; RR: Wanghu simcheong) is a 2005 animated feature film, produced in North and South Korea and directed by Nelson Shin.

Empress Chung
Korean theatrical release poster
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationWanghu simcheong
McCune–ReischauerWanghu simch‘ŏng
Directed byNelson Shin
Screenplay byKim Jung-ha
Shin Jang-hyun
Yoo Kwang-hee
Kyong Seung-won
Kwon Young-sup
Story byNelson Shin
Produced byNelson Shin
Yi Jin-eun
Kang Min-woo
Edited byNelson Shin
Music bySung Dong-hwan
Production
companies
Distributed byKOAA Films
Release date
  • August 12, 2005 (2005-08-12)
Running time
93 minutes
CountriesNorth Korea
South Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$6.5 million[1]

Synopsis

In this adventure, based on a famous Korean folk tale, a daughter sacrifices herself to restore her blind father's eyesight.

Production

As a personal project, Shin spent eight years getting the project off the ground, including three and a half years of pre-production. The film was co-produced in North Korea by the Chosun April 26th Children Film Studio (also known as SEK), and the score was also recorded in the North by the Pyongyang Film and Broadcasting Orchestra. In a move unusual for the Korean film industry, the character voices were recorded in both the South and the North due to differences in dialect. For the definitive international release version, the South Korean dub is the one used.

Release

On August 12, 2005, Empress Chung became the first film to have been released simultaneously in both North and South Korea. The film was featured at the 2004 Annecy International Animation Festival, and was also recognized with several awards in Korea.

The film grossed US$140,000 on its opening weekend against a US$6.5 million budget,[1] continuing a trend of under-performing animated features made for the Korean market.[2]

Disappearance

Since the initial release, aside from few screenings across Europe, the film did not get an international theatrical release or home media release. Nowadays, the only things related to the film that are online is the trailer, sound test animation, some screenshots[3] and a collection of children's books.[4]

There has also been evidence suggesting despite not being released on DVD internationally or in South Korea, that it was released in North Korea because Johannes Schönherr has mentioned Empress Chung when talking about his latest North Korean DVD acquiring, however without more evidence it can neither be confirmed or disconfirmed whether North Korean DVD release is real.[5][6]

See also

References
  1. Jie, Li (February 2012). "Drawing out the Hermit". NewsChina Magazine. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  2. Russell, Mark (August 31, 2005). "Uniting the Two Koreas, in Animated Films at Least". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  3. "왕후심청 Empress Chung (Wang-hu Shim-cheong)". KMDb (in Korean). Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  4. "알라딘: 검색결과 '왕후심청'" [Aladin: Search results 'Empress Simcheong']. Aladin (in Korean). Archived from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  5. "North Korea Animation". North Korean Films. March 8, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  6. "SEKs and The Lion King Mystery". North Korean Films. June 23, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
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