PRIX JEUNESSE Suitcase Inspires Producers in Korea
A PRIX JEUNESSE Suitcase event was held at EBS (Educational Broadcasting System, Korea) on 10 September 2018, attended by about 30 EBS children’s content producers/directors and moderated by Executive Producer Hyunsook Chung.
It was an action-packed day in which we viewed and discussed 16 programmes covering 3 age groups and both fiction and non-fiction. In the end we selected the following programmes as the best in each age group.
Age up to 6: PythagoraSwitch (Japan)
Age 7-10: Revolting Rhymes (UK)
Age 11-15: ZombieLars (Norway)
The discussions were lively, with participants focusing a lot on the practicalities of the creative development of future content. Sojin Ahn, the director of EBS’ children’s department, thought the Suitcase was a helpful stimulus to productive discussions between co-workers that was sure to help in future children’s content development, while Producer Sunhee Lee was struck by how much the comparison of different programmes helped her to think about the relationship between content, culture and social background. Seulyena Lee said that the event helped her to reflect on the importance of the attitude producers have towards the children they make content for, while others argued that the producer’s role was to build a kind of virtual playground which stimulates the curiosity and imagination of children. Producer Seyeon Hwang remarked that “watching the programmes from PRIX JEUNESSE, I thought it’s crucial to treat children as main characters in their own world, not as ones to be merely educated or taught by adults”.
As for me, I couldn’t help reflecting on the power of the PRIX JEUNESSE Suitcase contents to provide the kind of stimulus which creative minds need to dance with excitement and spark with ideas. Children’s content producers all have their own distinctive approaches, styles and ideas, but they can all agree on the importance of supporting children and children’s dreams.
Hyunsook Chung