Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Wilderness in the raw: Lee ventures to document Serengeti in 3D
By Kwon Mee-yoo
His white hair was like a lion’s mane — though he was in the urban center of Seoul, he projected an atmosphere of wildlife in his image.
Lee Jong-ryul, 43, is a wildlife documentary director based in Tanzania. He is now stepping up to the next level of documentaries through 3D technology.
“The Serengeti is a wild plains ecosystem, which has the largest number of mammals in the world. It is about the size of North Gyeongsang Province, but some 2 million wildebeests have been migrating on the plains for more than 1,000 years,” Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times, Monday. He is visiting Korea to recruit staff for the new documentary.
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Lee first visited Africa in 1996, when he was filming a documentary. He later went on a cross-continental trip with SBS in 1999. He produced MBC’s “Wild Plains, Serengeti” and “Tanganyika Chimpanzee” and participated in “Lion Queen.”
“As I have shot programs in Africa for about five years, I became an expert on Africa in Korea, which was not intended,” Lee said.
Falling in love with the nature of Africa, the producer decided to move to Tanzania in 2005.
“I thought it would be better to live in Africa than in Korea where I struggle in the outsourcing system of Korean broadcasting stations.”
Lee became the first Korean to immigrate to Africa for business purposes and the first individual to purchase land there.
“Wildlife documentaries are aired all over the globe. They don’t have a language barriers and people can watch them many times. SBS TV’s Animal Zoo shows reruns on cable television numerous times but it is still popular,” he said. “The 30 trillion won ($27 billion) wildlife documentary market is shared by the BBC and National Geographic. I decided to challenge for 1 percent of it.”
Now Lee will take on the two main documentary makers with 3D technology.
He explained the possibility of 3D movies to the officials of the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) for many months to persuade them.
“Other documentary makers leave when filming is done, but I live in Arusha, a city near the Serengeti and could help them anytime they needed. I am the only one can who could do that,” he said.
Earlier this month he finally signed an agreement to co-produce 3D wildlife documentaries with TANAPA. This gives him exclusive rights to make 3D documentaries in the Serengeti.
According to the contract, Lee and Leeco Film Korea will make three 3D documentaries for the next three years and build a 3D movie theater.
“This contract gives us a head start. Going three years ahead of other documentary makers could be a chance to challenge their archives,” Lee said. “Archiving is very important. When you have enough archives, you can make new documentaries, such as the life cycle of a lion, from a database.”
The first 3D film will be a documentary portraying the life of modern fathers in the contemporary life of male lions.
“The population of lions is increasing in the Serengeti and it has intensified the competition among adult male lions. Those who are ousted from the leader position wander the wild plains, ending up rummaging in garbage cans. This is happening in the Serengeti,” he said. “I thought this is similar to modern fathers, whose life revolves around their children.”
The other two will be 60-minute documentaries, whose themes will vary based on what they capture, he said.
Documenting wildlife is a difficult, tedious job.
“People who like animals cannot hold out long in the Serengeti. They soon become worn out. However, when they can see the growth of grass and trees, they can endure the wild plains,” Lee said. “Lions move around the vast area and we might see them for only a few days a week, but the plants always stay there. When you feel the plants growing and sun shining, the Serengeti is an enjoyable place.”
His interest in the plants of Africa led him to plan a documentary on them.
“There are three representative trees in Africa — the baobab, jacaranda and coffee tree. When the 3D project goes well, I want to hand it over to a capable young producer and film those three trees,” Lee said.
“I want to document the 100 years of the trees. There are old and young trees, so I can videotape them, but I have to think about how to portray the lapse of time in the documentary.”