Yunah Hong is an award-winning video/filmmaker, based in New York City. She grew up in Seoul, Korea. She studied art history, photography and design at the Seoul National University, graduating in 1985. Two years later she earned an M. A. in computer graphics at the New York Institute of Technology. While working as a designer in New York, she began to experiment with video. She has now made seven films, ranging in scale from a one-hour documentary to short experimental productions.
Her first work, “Memory/all echo” (1990), is an experimental video based on the Dictée by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. It was broadcasted on CUNY-TV in 1991 and has been distributed to libraries and universities throughout the U.S. Her second “Through the Milky Way” (1992), is an experimental video evoking the experience of Korean women immigrants in Hawaii at the turn of the century. It was awarded First Prize in Video Art at the 1992 Tam Tam International Video Festival in Italy and broadcast on WNYC-TV. Her short film, “Here Now” (1995), frames a day in the life of a woman who, at age 30, finds her mind bouncing between fantasy and reality. It was awarded the Special Jury Award at the 2nd Seoul Short Film Festival in Korea 1995. Her feature screenplay, “Monday”, was an official selection of PPP 1998: Pusan International Film Festival Film Market in Korea.
Her documentary, “Becoming an Actress in New York” (2000) is about three Korean American actresses who pursue their big dreams in New York. It was broadcasted in Korea in 2001 and 2004. It was named a final nominee for aMedia’s 2001 Ammy Awards for Best Documentary. Her documentary, “Between the Lines: Asian American Women’s Poetry” (2001) brings forth how the lives of Asian American woman poets are reflected in the poetry they produce. It received a CINE Golden Eagle Award in 2002. It has received critical acclaim and has been exhibited throughout the States.
Over the past nineteen years since she became a video/filmmaker, her video/films have focused on women, and the arts. She has worked on various genres of film and video -- experimental, drama, computer animation and documentary -- to explore the possibilities of video/film form and new ways to visualize personal stories and history. Currently, she is in the final stage of finishing a new documentary, “Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words” which will combine her previous experience of working in both documentary and fiction filmmaking to create a memorable portrait of Wong’s extraordinary life. She also published an article about Wong, “A Twentieth Century Actress” with Peter X Feng in Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Routledge in 2006.
She is a recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in video (2000, 1992), the Media Alliance Media Arts fellowship (1993), and the Art Matters fellowship (1995). She received funding from the New York State Council (2004, 2002, 1999 & 1995), the Jerome Foundation (2006, 1994), the Asian Women Giving Circle (2009), Urban Artist Initiatives (2008) and the Pyramid Arts Center's Diverse Forms Artist Project (1992). She also received a media fund and a James Yee mentorship award from Center for Asian American Media in 2008 and 2005.
She served as video grant advisor to the New York Foundation for the Arts (2004-8).
Esther K. Chae is an international award-winning actor/writer and academic based in Los Angeles and New York. Her artistic work has been seen and heard in the US, Korea, Ireland, Australia, Canada and Russia. Her numerous credits as a performer include TV shows NCIS, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The West Wing, The Shield, ER; and theatre stages such as Yale Repertory Theater, La Mama, Mark Taper Forum/ Kirk Douglas Theater, East West Players, P.S. 122, CUNY/Martin Segal Theater and Harvard/A.R.T.
Chae’s performances have been lauded as “talented” (Variety), “engaging” (Hollywood Reporter) – and may just “break your heart” (Asia Pacific Arts). Her life in Hollywood has been featured in a Korean Broadcasting Station (KBS) documentary.
Her solo performance So the Arrow Flies, about a North Korean spy and the Korean-American FBI Agent who pursues her, was featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (“a powerful and compelling script… fascinatingly gripping-ThreeWeeks Magazine), Ars Nova Theater Festival (NY) and the World Women’s Forum (Seoul) in 2008. This year it has been invited to TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference of which she is an inaugural fellow, CUNY’s Martin Segal Theater and NYU’s Performance Studies. The play is being adapted into a feature film script.
Chae graduated from the Yale School of Drama with an MFA in Acting, the University of Michigan with an MA in Theater Studies, and Korea University. Believing strongly in the concept of inspirational education, Chae has taught and lectured at NYU's Tisch Performance Studies (mentor Anna Deavere Smith’s class), Yale School of Drama, USC, University of Baltimore, Maryland and Cal State San Marcos. She is a TED and USC NetKAL fellow and invited speaker at the 2008 International Women’s World Forum in Seoul.
She is a certified stage combatant, trained in Korean Drum and Mask dance and is proud to have trekked the Himalayan mountains (India, 4100m)- despite the altitude sickness.
