Today we’d like to introduce you to Jungmin Cha.
Jungmin, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’m a filmmaker and animator born in South Korea. As a Media Studies major student during my undergrad, I wanted to be a producer or work in the broadcasting industry so I actively participated in a broadcasting club and got experience in shooting and editing. However, my work experience as an intern at a certain company’s PR department made me realize the brutal reality of this industry. I always worked the most and was paid the least. Most of all, making films for others was not as interesting and pleasant as I expected.
Through this work experience, not only did I look back on my past life, I also pondered what I truly want to do after graduating from school. Luckily, it didn’t take me long to realize I always loved drawing and enjoyed watching animated films. This led me to decide to go to grad school and learn animation. It was a big challenge for me that could possibly change my whole life in the future, but for now, I’m satisfied with my new life as an animator. Also, it is much more fun to make my film as a filmmaker!
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
As a social being, I’m always interested in how my identity is formed by interacting with others and sharing experiences. Since interacting with a diversity of people influences me and allows me to broaden my perspective in art, my works strongly reflect on social and cultural issues revolving South Korean society where I was born and raised.
As an artist, I use animation as the main artistic tool to convey critical awareness of social issues with humor, based on my observation of the society I am surrounded by. I mostly do character-based 2d animation and enjoy having primary colors and dynamic movement for my artwork.
How can artists connect with other artists?
I think attending as many festivals as possible is the best way to get to know other filmmakers because festivals are for networking and kind of the only places to meet filmmakers in person.
However, frankly speaking, I’m the one who needs advice on this, because I’ve been working as an independent filmmaker and attending festivals alone with no crew always makes me lonely. I also wish to get connections with other animators to share some thoughts.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have a website and you can see my work here: https://jungmincha.com,
Also I have a Vimeo account: https://vimeo.com/jungmincha
Also if there’s any screenings of my films, I post them on my instagram: instagram.com/jmchaaaaa/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jungmincha.com
- Phone: +16614956150
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jmchaaaaa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jmchaaaaa
- Other: https://vimeo.com/jungmincha
Image Credit:
Illustrations (square images), still images of my films (horizontal images) a thumbnail for my children’s book (text inserted image)
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