Birthday Boy (S)

Birthday Boy is a 2004 short animated film by Sejong Park, while still only a student at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Birthday Boy is set during the Korean War, in 1951. It is set on little Manuk's birthday, and begins as he is playing on the village streets, imagining his father's daily life as a soldier at the frontlines. After playing, Manuk returns home to find a recently delivered parcel. Thinking it is a present for him, Manuk opens the parcel, and its contents change his life forever. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It received an Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival Siggraph film festival awarded the film for Best Animated Short, for "its captivating and expert storytelling and filmmaking."