Lee Jeong-hyang
Lee Jeong-hyang (Hangul: 이청향; born April 13, 1964) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter.
Life and career
Born in South Korean, Lee attended Sogang University, majoring in French Language and Literature. She subsequently entered The Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) in 1988 and was a part of its fourth graduating class.[1][2][3]
Upon graduation from KAFA, Lee worked as an assistant director on Declaration of Genius (1995), a film by Lee Jang-ho, a director who came to fame in the mid-1970s.[1][2] It was during this time in 1995, when the government censorship was at its peak, that Lee began working on the script of what was became her writer-directorial feature film debut, Art Museum by the Zoo (1998).[1][2] Although only released towards the end of the year on December 19, 1998, the film became the fifth highest-grossing film of the year.[4] The film, a semi-autobiographical[1][2] romantic comedy about two strangers who end up living together and cowriting a screenplay about their relationship, won Shim Eun-ha a Best Actress award at the Grand Bell Awards and Lee Sung-jae several Best New Actor Awards.
Lee's second feature length film as a writer-director, The Way Home (2002), is undoubtedly her most successful and critically acclaimed to date. The film tells the story of a city-born boy who goes to live with his mute, elderly grandmother in her rural village. The young adolescent struggles to overcome their differences in lifestyles and attitude, but eventually grows to admire and appreciate the simpler, more traditional lifestyle.[2] With its "subtle characterization, sensibility, and aesthetics"[3], the film appealed to mass audiences, becoming Korea's second highest-grossing film of the year.[2] It went on to win Best Film and Best Original Screenplay for Lee at the Grand Bell Awards, which is South Korea's equivalent of the Oscars.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credited as | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | ||
| 1998 | Art Museum by the Zoo | Yes | Yes |
| 2002 | The Way Home | Yes | Yes |
| 2011 | A Reason to Live | Yes | Yes |
References
- ^ a b c d Yecies, Brian and Shim Aegyung (2015). The Changing Face of Korean Cinema: 1960 to 2015. Routledge. p. 191. ISBN 978-0415707657.
- ^ a b c d e f Nelmes, Jill and Jule Selbo (2015). Women Screenwriters: An International Guide. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 135. ISBN 978-1137312365.
- ^ a b Choi, Jinhee (2010). The South Korean Film Renaissance: Local Hitmakers, Global Provocateurs. Wesleyan University Press. pp. 5, 30. ISBN 978-0819569400.
- ^ "Darcy's Korean Film Page - 1998". www.koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2016-03-15.