Korean, Chinese filmmakers seek common ground beyond politics through AI

Despite political tensions and historical differences between their countries, two filmmakers from Korea and China believe stories of ordinary people helping one another can offer a path toward greater understanding.

The directors, who won the top prizes at the China-Korea Artificial Intelligence (AI) Video Competition, drew inspiration from little-known acts of solidarity between Koreans and Chinese, using AI-generated films to bring those stories to life.

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul hosted an AI short film competition, inviting young people from both countries to use AI to create videos highlighting stories of cultural exchange and friendship. One grand prize winner was selected from each country, with each receiving 15,000 yuan (3.08 million won) and a round-trip airline ticket to a destination served by China Southern Airlines.

Chinese grand prize winner Liu Jiakai is an experienced filmmaker who has long sought to bring people from different countries and cultures together through his work.

His inspiration for the winning film came from a story shared by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a speech at Seoul National University in 2014. The story recalled how, following the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, students at Jeonnam Jeil High School in Korea raised donations to help students at Beichuan High School in China.

Liu also drew on the true story of Korean rescue workers traveling to China to provide life-saving assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake.

“The students’ small acts of kindness and the rescuers’ courage could be in different forms, but they stemmed from the same sentiment: the willingness to go one step further for people they have never even met,” he told The Korea Times.

He highlighted the friction countries could face due to different views, noting that he believes that stories of ordinary people helping each other through difficult times matter more than political tensions.

“Friendship does not start only when they know each other well,” he said.

Citing the words of Choe Chi-won (857-?), a Silla era scholar who studied and served in China’s Tang Dynasty, Liu noted that the phrase, “The Way is never far from people and there should be no distinction between people based on nationality,” remains deeply relevant today.

“I hope that young people from both countries will continue to meet more often, deepen their understanding of each other’s cultures and create new stories together,” he said.

The Korean grand prize winner, CEO of Mozaic Film Oh Dong-ha, shared a similar perspective.

Oh, himself a veteran AI filmmaker, said neighboring countries like Korea, China and Japan are bound to have disagreements because of their geographical proximity, but that there is no point in hating each other.

His film was inspired by the story of Zhou Aibao, a Chinese sailor who helped Korean independence activist Kim Gu (1876-1949) evade Japanese forces during his stay in China.

“I was surprised when I heard the story. I’ve always considered myself deeply interested in China and its history, yet I had never heard about it. I thought this was the perfect story to tell about the friendship between China and Korea,” Oh said.

After three days of working on the video with AI video generation tools such as Seedance, Kling and Veo, he tried to make a short-form video with a cinematic feeling to it. Although he used the story of Kim and Zhou bonding against Japan, he hopes people understand that there is nothing to gain from hating Japan or Japanese people today.

“It bothers me when historical stories become entangled with political agendas and are used as an excuse to spread hostility. I wish we could move away from all this negativity and focus more on positive connections between people,” Oh said.