Born in 1963, LEE Soo-jung first graduated in English language and literature before studying filmmaking at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (K’ARTS). Starting out as an assistant director to IM Kwon-taek, she became part of the first generation of indie filmmakers as a cofounding member of the film collective National Film Institute in 1988, a politically engaged group that advocated against a new revision of the motion picture law and Hollywood majors directly distributin...More

Born in 1963, LEE Soo-jung first graduated in English language and literature before studying filmmaking at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (K’ARTS). Starting out as an assistant director to IM Kwon-taek, she became part of the first generation of indie filmmakers as a cofounding member of the film collective National Film Institute in 1988, a politically engaged group that advocated against a new revision of the motion picture law and Hollywood majors directly distributing films in Korea. She made her debut in mainstream cinema serving as line producer for the classic romcom <Art Museum By The Zoo> (1998), from another K’ARTS alumni LEE Jeong-hyang. LEE made her directing debut when she made <Jinsuk & Me> (2012), a documentary on the outstanding public support won by the sit-in protest of a heavy industry laborer atop a shipbuilding crane. She followed it up with a though-provoking political documentary in <Cruel State> (2015), which followed bereaved families after the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster and took aim at the tone-deaf responses of the government. Then in 2016, LEE explored the notion of freedom through poetry in her video essay <Time to Read Poems> (2016). With her latest film, <Sister J> (2020), she returned to the topic of labor movements, as she followed a man who has been doing sit-in protests for more than 10 years and has since started to do theatre, to sing and to write. Selected to compete in the Documentary section of the Busan International Film Festival, it earned the BIFF Mecenat Award.
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