'Magic Candies' brings Oscar buzz to local screens
Oscar-nominated animated short marks first Korean children's book adaptation by major Japanese studio
This year's dearth of Korean works at major film festivals and awards shows — no feature films made it to the Oscars or Cannes — has left local film fans searching for bright spots. One of the few silver linings came from an unexpected source: "Magic Candies," a 21-minute animated short based on Korean author Baek Hee-na's children's book that landed an Oscar nomination for best animated short film in January.
With the short film now heading to Korean theaters, the children's book author Baek and Japanese producer Takashi Washio gathered for a press conference at Lotte Cinema Konkuk University in Seoul on Friday.
While buzz around the film here largely centered on whether it would score an Oscar, Baek noted that awards were not the main draw for her. "When we made this animation, the goal wasn't commercial," she said. "Every time I write a book, what's really important to me is the personal feeling of having created something I can be proud of anywhere."
The project marks the first collaboration between a Korean children's book and a major Japanese animation studio. It brings together established talents: Baek won the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2020 for her body of work, while Toei Animation's Washio and director Daisuke Nishio are industry veterans behind hits like "Pretty Cure" and "Dragon Ball Z."
The film forgoes the sleek polish of mainstream animation in favor of something quirkier and more expressive. Its rough, textured look stays true to Baek's distinctive approach — she is known for building miniature sets with clay figures, then photographing them under carefully arranged lights to create her storybook illustrations.
For Baek, who herself studied animation in college, preserving the original's handmade sensibility was crucial.
"I was worried about losing the analog feel if it went CG," she said, referring to computer graphics. The back-and-forth took nearly a year. "They said they'd create CG models of all the characters first and show me. If I liked it, then I'd give permission."
That attention to detail extended beyond aesthetics. Washio, working with Korean material for the first time, took pains to capture the authentic local feel.
"We did location scouting in Seoul several times," he explained. "I told the director I saw a lot of magpies when I came to Korea, and he looked it up and found out magpies are Korea's national bird. That's how we got to put one the opening scene."
The film combines Baek's original "Magic Candies" with elements from another work ,"I Am a Dog," for a more complete narrative arc. "When I first read 'Magic Candies,' I thought it might be too short for a film," Washio said. "But after reading 'I Am a Dog,' I thought it was excellent and would work well from Dong-Dong's perspective."
The cross-cultural collaboration paid off beyond expectations. The film has won eight awards across seven international festivals and earned official invitations to over 30 others before landing its Oscar nomination.
The biggest revelation for Baek came from something she had never considered.
"When I write picture books, I think a lot about the characters' expressions and movements, so seeing them move wasn't that surprising," she said. "But I'd never imagined the character's voice. So when I first heard Dong-Dong speak, I got really emotional — it was like I'd eaten a magic candy myself."
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