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).
