Korean Animation Pioneer SHIN Dong-hun Passed Away

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NEWS & REPORTS

Korean Animation Pioneer SHIN Dong-hun Passed Away

Jun 20, 2017

Writer by KIM Su-bin
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Directed the First Theatrical Animation A STORY OF HONG GIL-DONG

Director SHIN Dong-hun who directed A Story of Hong Gil-dong (1967), the first Korean animation for theaters, died on June 6th at the age of 90. SHIN debuted as a cartoonist for children’s comic book Steve’s Adventure in 1947 and established his position in the Korean animation world to produce various genres of cartoons in daily newspapers and magazines. He also worked in advertising after he made an animated commercial for the first time in Korea in 1959. Finally, he brought his talents to the animation world while he consecutively unveiled Korea’s first feature-length animation A Story of Hong Gil-dong and its sequel Hopi and Chadol Bawi in 1967.

A Story of Hong Gil-dong based on his younger brother SHIN Dong-woo’s serialized comic strip, Hong Gil-dong, The Hero was a huge success. It ranked second at the year’s Korean box office drawing 150,000 moviegoers in seven theaters nationwide including the Daehan Cinema, Seoul. In 1995, he remade the original story into Returned Hero Hong Kil-Dong. The Animation Society of Korea (ASKO) launched the SHIN Dong-hun Awards to mark 40 years of the animation’s birth.

After the 1980s, he wrote books about classical music and became a music commentator. In addition, he donated 8,800 pieces related to cartoons and music as well as his activity records to the Arts Council Korea’s Arts Archive. The deceased received the Best Culture Film Award for A Story of Hong Gil-dong at the Dae Jong Film Awards in 1967 and the Achievement Award at the Seoul International Cartoon Animation Festival (SICAF) in 2001 in recognition of his contributions in Korean animation industry.

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