Tag: filmmaker

Kevin Woo was born in 1991 in Seoul, South Korea, to quite the musical family: his father was a pianist, his uncle a classically trained opera singer, and his aunts were artists. Growing up in the Bay, Kevin was naturally attuned to music, singing in his church’s praise band and putting on karaoke performances with his sister at home—favorites included the Spice Girls, Shania Twain, and NSYNC.

So Yun Um is a Korean American filmmaker from Los Angeles, California. She tells us about growing up in L.A. as a child in the ‘90s, a dynamic city full of fashion, enterprise, and of course, a large Korean community.

Anthony Hull was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, to a Korean mother and a Black father who worked as an army mechanic. As a child, he remembers growing up in a relatively diverse community with friends who were Asian, or had Asian parents; it was in the fourth grade, when he befriended a transfer student from Korea, that Anthony began to feel a sense of pride and solidarity in his own Korean identity. In college, he remembers struggling to “half” identify with his dual heritage, feeling alienated from in-groups who didn’t see him “Black enough” or “Korean enough:” then and today, he feels that he is both 100% Black and 100% Korean. Following graduation, Anthony moved to New York to pursue a career in acting and filmmaking, where he now has his own production company to tell the stories he’s always wanted to share.

Born and raised in San Jose, Aaron Choe always knew he wanted to reconnect with Korean culture. In high school, he discovered 90s K-pop, which sparked a curiosity that eventually led him to visit his sister who lived in Korea. Aaron fell in love with the country and ended up moving there permanently in 2008. Since then, Aaron’s been living in Korea as a film director and DJ. Making sense of his identity, Aaron has fully embraced his Koreanness and encourages others to move there to truly experience the country.