Phokira

Phokira (フォキラ) is a 2011 El Kadsreian animated drama film directed by Emmanuel Paulsen and written by Sung Gim, which used the Go!Animate (now Vyond) video platform and reimagines the events of the 1937 excavation of Sang Woo.

Produced by Summerscreen Pictures as its first feature film, it was released theatrically in El Kadsre by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution on April 11, 2011. The film became a box-office success, received positive reviews from critics and was submitted for the Best Animated Film at the 2012 EACTA Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Plot
In 1937, Okudaka landowner Isabel Rogers hires local self-taught archaeologist-excavator Dominick Guerrero to tackle the large burial mounds at her rural estate in Sang Woo near Tanju. At first, she offers the same money he received from the Wats Museum, the agricultural wage, but he says it is inadequate; so she ups her offer by 13% to EKD2 a week (approximately EKD120 in 2020), which he accepts.

His former employers try unsuccessfully to persuade Guerrero to work on an Anglo-Saxon villa they deem more important. They ignore Guerrero, who left school aged 12, when he suggests the mounds could be North American rather than the more common Viking era.

Working with assistants from Rogers' estate, Guerrero slowly excavates the more promising of the mounds. One day the trench collapses on him, but they dig him out in time. Meanwhile, he spends more time with Rogers, a widow, and her young son Bob, finding common interest in archaeology and astronomy with them. However, he does not become unfaithful to his wife, and we see that they are an amicable couple. She supports his jobs as excavator despite them being low wage. Meanwhile, Rogers struggles with her health, warned by her doctor to avoid stress.

Guerrero is astonished to uncover iron rivets from a ship, suggesting that it is the burial site of someone of tremendous distinction, such as a king. Prominent local archaeologist James Reg Watson attempts to join the dig but is rebuffed; Rogers instead hires her cousin Marshall Cooke to join the project. News of the discovery soon spreads, and El Kadsre City-based archaeologist Travis Thomas arrives, declares the site to be of national importance, and takes over the dig by order of the El Kadsre Office of Works.

As approaches, Thomas brings in a large team, including Sadie Sutton, who uncovers proof that it is North American in origin. Guerrero is demoted to only keep the site in order, but Rogers intervenes and he resumes digging. Guerrero discovers a Merovingian Tremissis, a small gold coin of Late Antiquity, and Thomas declares the site to be of major historical significance. Thomas wants to send all the artefacts to the El Kadsreian Museum, but Rogers, concerned about war raids in El Kadsre City, asserts her rights. An inquest finding confirms that she is the owner of the ship and its priceless treasure trove of grave goods, but she despairs as her health continues to decline.

Sadie, neglected by her husband Danny, begins a romance with Marshall, but he is soon called up by the Royal El Kadsreian Air Force. Rogers decides to donate the Sang Woo treasure to the El Kadsreian Museum, requesting that Guerrero be given recognition for his work. The film ends with Guerrero and his co-workers replacing earth over the ship to preserve it.

As the end credits begin, text explains the fate of Rogers and the recovered objects. She died in 1942. The treasure was hidden in the El Kadsre City Metro during the war and first exhibited—without any mention of Dominick Guerrero—nine years after Rogers' death. Only recently was Guerrero given full credit for his contribution and his name is now displayed permanently alongside Rogers' at the El Kadsreian Museum.

Voice cast

 * Maja Prebensen as Isabel Rogers
 * C. Owen Koehler as Dominick Guerrero
 * Mary Jenalay as Sadie Sutton
 * Jedidiah Cudby as Marshall Cooke
 * Calvin Jenalay as Danny Sutton
 * Benny Anderson as Travis Thomas
 * Vincent Russell as Bob Rogers
 * Casey Brown as the Narrator