The production team of KBS's four-part grand documentary marking the corporation's founding, "Sacred Relics," shared behind-the-scenes stories from why actress Kim Hee-ae was recruited as narrator to the use of AI technology, revealing a production period that spanned more than about two years.
KBS's grand documentary marking the corporation's founding "Sacred Relics" (producer Kim Dong-il, Lee Song-eun, Kim Eun-gon) is woven into part 1 "The covenant", part 2 "The invitation", part 3 "The word" and part 4 "The heart", and it highlights journeys of people around the world who live with their own pains and find comfort and hope through their respective religions. Metropolitan ratings rose as high as 5.1% (Nielsen Korea), marking an excellent start. This is the highest rating among KBS grand documentary projects in the past five years.
The production team of "Sacred Relics" said the planning intent was to shed light on people walking a journey of faith through "Sacred Relics" and to find a message of hope within our own lives living with pain.
With a visually impaired nun, a Muslim youth, parents who lost a child and others set to join the journey of faith, the production team said recruiting suitable protagonists was the most difficult task, noting, "We filmed at least three times or more," and that they put great effort into selecting subjects that fit the program's intent. Below is a Q&A with the production team containing behind-the-scenes stories to help viewers enjoy "Sacred Relics" more.
Q. Please explain the planning and production intent of "Sacred Relics." A. KBS's grand documentary "Sacred Relics" was planned for our society, which needs warm consolation. For thousands of years, religion has been a source of comfort and hope for suffering people. Regardless of time and place, humans often face unexpected situations—poverty, war, disease, marginalization, the pain of losing loved ones—that push them into moments of physical and mental suffering. Being finite beings, people rely on a transcendent being and, seeking to approach that being, ascribe power to "sacred relics," signs of the divine. Our program illuminated the lives of people who live with faith through "sacred relics." Although each religious value differs, we wanted to find some message of hope within the images of us living with pain.
Q. There was a lot of overseas filming—what about production costs and production period? A. "Sacred Relics" was selected in March 2024 for KBS's grand project call and planning began, and the first broadcast finally started on March 3, 2026, KBS's corporation founding day, so it can be said that the production period lasted about two years. Because we needed many overseas locations to capture various religions and various sacred relics, production costs were realistically high, and fortunately we received program production support from the Korea Communications Agency (RAPA) in 2024, which was a great help. Above all, we considered efficient spending of the valuable license fees provided by viewers.
Q. The production process of "Sacred Relics" must not have been easy. What were the difficult parts? A. The most difficult part of production was recruiting protagonists suitable for our human documentary on faith in overseas locations where language and culture were completely different. Above all, there needed to be a motivating suffering that made their faith steadfast, and getting those inner feelings out in front of the production team and the camera is not something that can be done in a short time. To find subjects who could convey our theme well, it took a long time to meet many people during pre-shoot scouting. In that process we changed protagonists several times. Building rapport with the protagonists required more than one or two shoots, so we filmed at least three times or more. Given the nature of a grand project, we were able to receive more time and expense-related production support than other programs. Above all, I want to take this opportunity to thank the directors and staff who empathized with the planning intent and worked hard to shoot in difficult environments.
Q. Actress Kim Hee-ae has been chosen as the narrator of "Sacred Relics," creating a buzz. Why was Kim Hee-ae considered a suitable narrator for this documentary? A. "Sacred Relics" is a human documentary composed of on-site observation and interviews with no intervention of the producers' subjectivity. Therefore, the script was composed with restrained expressions and only the necessary information, minimizing emotional involvement. We needed narration that could give deeper resonance to the stories of protagonists cultivating faithful belief amid suffering, and in the process of finding someone with sincerity who could empathize with the program's purpose, we felt actress Kim Hee-ae was suitable and asked her to narrate.
Q. Can you briefly reveal the atmosphere at the dubbing site and what Kim Hee-ae's voice was like when she recorded? A. Above all, she deeply empathized with the program's purpose and expressed gratitude for being able to participate in a meaningful program. Having familiarized herself with the program footage and script in advance, she understood the situations well, so dubbing proceeded with almost no NGs, and she conveyed the emotions appropriate to each situation in her voice. She had the depth to represent the protagonists' lives and provided sufficient hope and comfort to the viewers. I think viewers will understand our production team's intentions well by listening and feeling how the narration adds depth when they watch the broadcast.
Q. I heard that the latest AI technology was applied in "Sacred Relics." Can you preview how messages of consolation and the latest technology were combined? A. The production team thought AI technology has evolved as a means to express the creator's imagination, and we attempted various technical approaches to express parts that were difficult to film using AI. We visualized passages from the Quran or the Bible by creating generative images using classical works, and we transformed filmed resonant footage into oil-painting styles to convey emotions to viewers differently. From the early stages of production we considered many expressive methods using AI technology, but the biggest concern was how far fiction using AI could be allowed in a documentary. There was a big worry that AI-generated videos, which are increasingly more realistic than reality, could distort the essence of a documentary, and we judged that such use is inappropriate in the human documentary realm. Therefore, we used AI technology minimally, only to visualize facts based on classical works. Many production teams need to deliberate on how far AI technology should be permitted in documentaries. If AI-generated videos develop in ways that can damage reality, they could undermine the very essence of documentary.
Q. Condense for viewers the messages each of the four parts of "Sacred Relics" carries. A. Sacred relics were signs and covenants given by God to humans, but sometimes they were signs of invitation that showed God's love for humans through suffering like Jesus' crucifixion, and through the word they became milestones in human life. And the love given by God becomes a warm relic of consolation passed on to our neighbors. From the prayer of a poor Ethiopian boy rising from the lowest place toward higher ground, from the prayer of an Italian visually impaired nun who found a brighter light in unseen darkness, from the prayer of a Muslim youth suffering and wandering in home and school, to the prayers of bereaved families consoling the pain of losing loved ones in unexpected tragedies, I hope viewers receive messages of solace through the flow of the four episodes.
Q. After the four-part "Sacred Relics" airs, what kind of evaluation would you like to hear from viewers? A. Like our program motto "a consolation for those who need comfort," we hope viewers tell us that watching the broadcast became a warm opportunity to find some hope and consolation amid their difficult and weary lives.
The four-part KBS grand documentary marking the corporation's founding, "Sacred Relics," which will feature narration by Kim Hee-ae, opened with part 1 "The covenant" on the 3rd. Part 2 "The invitation" will air today (the 4th) at 10 p.m. on KBS1. It will be followed by part 3 "The word" on Thu., March 5 at 10 p.m. and part 4 "The heart" on Thu., March 12 at 10 p.m. on KBS1.
[Photo] Provided by "Sacred Relics" (from left Lee Song-eun, Kim Dong-il, Kim Eun-gon PD), poster
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