Elemental's Peter Sohn and Moving's Park Inje discuss Korean culture and making personal stories universal

How can artists make personal experiences and culturally specific ideas into art that appeals to a global audience? 

That’s the question at the heart of a conversation between Elemental filmmaker Peter Sohn and Moving director Park Inje, who discuss how they channel their Korean heritage into universally accessible entertainment (watch exclusively above).

Sohn explains that Elemental was primarily inspired by the culture that his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Korea, passed down to him and his brother. “When my father left Korea in 1969, he gave a deep bow to my grandparents,” he says. “[The deep bow] we put into the movie, I didn’t know how American audiences [would] connect to it. I think your point is that there are universal ideas within the gestures that still translate across the ocean.”

Park, on the other hand, has lived in South Korea for his entire life, and he didn’t aspire to make an international hit with Moving. “I wasn’t aiming to create scenarios that would resonate with a global audience,” he explains. “I just wanted to show real Korean high schoolers who are actually living that Korean high school life. I just wanted to put that out there.” 

“When I kicked off this project, I was like, ‘If I can’t make the Korean viewers grasp it, how can I expect the global viewers to understand the show?’” Park continues. “There would be some aspects that might be lost on global viewers, like the concept of students staying at school until late at night. But in Korea, we have these evening study halls, and students really stay late at school to study. It’s a Korean thing, you know? So the viewers from other parts of the world might not immediately get it.”

Still, Sohn sees connections between their two projects. “Once I saw [Moving], it was the hardship from our parents, all the work that they were doing, and I got hooked in because that’s all we were doing for Elemental for the seven years. Just trying to honor the same thing. The same struggles that our parents made.”

“It’s not about the local culture but the sentiment that really matters,” Park says.

Shortly after its release last August, supernatural spy series Moving became the most-watched Korean original on Disney+ globally and on Hulu in the U.S. It also scored a nomination for Best Foreign Language Series at the Critics Choice Awards. Disney and Pixar's animated romantic fantasy Elemental is up for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming Oscars, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globes and Best Animated Film at the Critics Choice Awards.

Elemental and Moving are both streaming now on Disney+. Watch the full conversation between the directors above.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Elemental includes Easter egg tribute to late Pixar animator
• Elemental director Peter Sohn looks back on the Pixar characters he's voiced
• Pixar's Elemental director on Avatar comparisons: 'We're so different from it'