KPop Demon Hunters continues to make history.
The animated musical film won two Oscars on March 15 for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. Winning Best Animated Feature made director Maggie Kang and producer Michelle Wong the first South Koreans to win the category. “Golden” also marked the first time a K-Pop song won an Academy Award.
In tears, EJAE, the vocalist and one of the songwriters for “Golden,” said, “Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-Pop, but now everyone is singing our song and all the Korean lyrics. I’m so proud. And I realize this award is not about success; it’s about resilience. I’m so grateful to our team.”
Unfortunately, just as producer Lee Yu-han was about to begin his acceptance speech, the orchestra cut him off and he, and the rest of the songwriting team, were unable to finish. Many people in the audience began to boo.
However, during their backstage interview, one of the journalists offered them space to finish their speech. Lee thanked the team, saying it was an “incredible honor” and concluded with saying “thank you” in Korean.
Mark Sonnenblick said, “Everybody who worked on this movie–all the animators–it was a real collaboration across the board. It’s a movie where you’re looking at someone you’ve been taught to hate and fear, and starting to trust, maybe even love them. That’s part of what the movie is about. It’s not ‘I’m going up, up, up.’ It’s ‘we’re going up, up, up.'”
He finished with noting that making a movie takes a village and thanked everyone, including those behind the scenes, who worked on the project.
Kang was in tears as she accepted the award, thanking the fans for the support. “For those of you who look like me, ” she said, “I’m so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this. But it is here. And that means that the next generation don’t have to go longing. This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”
Director Chris Appelhans said, “Music and stories have this power to connect us as humans across cultures and borders. I just want to take a moment to say to all the young filmmakers, artists, musicians in all corners of the globe: tell your stories, sing in your voice. I promise you, the world is waiting.”
Congratulations to KPop Demon Hunters and their team for these outstanding achievements!
Source: Oscars
