Caroline So Jung Lee is an award-winning diasporic Korean filmmaker, interdisciplinary artist and community arts worker. She is based in Tkaronto (Toronto, Canada) and sometimes works on unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver, BC) and in Korea. Caroline experiments with 16mm handmade film, documentary and sound to explore kinetic, emotional and spiritual movement and affect in film. She obtained a degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto and a degree in Film and Integrated Media, and Social Practice and Community Engagement from Emily Carr University. Caroline won Best Canadian Short Film at VIFF in 2019 for her documentary short, “At the Bottom of the Sea”. She is a VIFF alumn and past Hot Docs fellow.
Filmography:
At the Bottom of the Sea (2019) – Director, Producer, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
What Came Before (2020) – Co-director (with Jae Lew), Producer, Cinematography
ghosts of cambie (2020) – Director, Producer, Editor, Cinematography, Sound
In development:
Untitled Diasporic Asian project—- Mid-length film that attempts to explore the Asian diaspora’s relationship and reckoning with the knowledge that the land of so-called Canada belongs to Indigenous peoples and the potential connections between communities.
Past Screenings:
2021 Shifting the Narrative, Durham Regional International Film Festival, Durham, Ontario
– At the Bottom of the Sea
2021 Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen, grunt gallery’s public art installation, Vancouver, BC
– What Came Before
2021 Right of Return, Deluge Contemporary Art and Antimatter [media art], Online Exhibition, Victoria, BC (April 10-May 8)
– At the Bottom of the Sea
2021 The Cinematheque, Vancouver, BC (April 21-May 4)
– At the Bottom of the Sea
2020-2021 Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen, grunt gallery’s public art installation, Vancouver, BC
– ghosts of cambie
2021 Toronto Korean Film Festival – What Came Before
2020 Korean Film Festival Canada – At the Bottom of the Sea, What Came Before
2020 Antimatter Media Art Festival – At the Bottom of the Sea, ghosts of cambie
2020 Portland International Film Festival – At the Bottom of the Sea
2020 DOXA Documentary Festival – ghosts of cambie
2020 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival – At the Bottom of the Sea
2019 Vancouver International Film Festival - At the Bottom of the Sea
2019 Animation + Film/Video Showcase, The Show at Emily Carr University 2019
– At the Bottom of the Sea
2019 Best of Animation + Film/Video Showcase, The Show at Emily Carr University 2019
– At the Bottom of the Sea
Past Group Exhibitions:
2020 Emo Collective Screening, Digital Shift 2020, IMAA
2019 Building Cities, with Temporary Collective, curated by artist Germaine Koh, Women Deliver 2019 Conference, Vancouver,
BC
2018 A Negotiation of (Audio) Space, curated by Robin Lough, The Show at Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
Performance:
2019 Untitled II (The Shadow), with Temporary Collective, commissioned by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2019 Untitled I (Asiatic Head), with Temporary Collective, commissioned by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2018 Polymer Dance Show, with Polymer Dance, lead by artist Miriam Esquitín, Vancouver, BC
2018 Untitled (3 workshops), with Social Practice Kitchen, commissioned by the Art in Society Conference, Vancouver, BC
2018-2019 Social Practice Kitchen (year 2: 7 culture-sharing lunches and workshops from a Nowruz celebration and Collaborative
Lunch to Fermentation Friday), Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
2017-2018 Social Practice Kitchen (year 1: 13 culture-sharing lunches and workshops from a Congee Workshop to a Big Arab Feast),
Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
Workshops and Coordination:
April 2023 Intro to Analogue Filmmaking Workshop at OCAD University, Toronto, ON (organized by Sarah Boo)
2021 Vancouver International Film Festival, Catalyst mentorship Programmer
July 2020 Cinelab Analogue Masterclass at The Cinematheque, Vancouver, BC
March 2020 Handmade Cinema and Phytogram Loop Workshops (assisted at), Duplex, Vancouver, BC
2016-2019 Assistant to filmmaker and artist Ann Marie Fleming, Vancouver, BC
2019 Filming Coordinator at Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
2018 Prayers for the Water, facilitation commissioned by Carmen Rosen, Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival, Vancouver, BC
Education:
2023 Analogue Resilience: Film Labs Gathering (conference hosted by LIFT in Toronto)
2023 WIFT-Toronto CONNECT mentorship
2023 WIFT-Toronto Business Booster Workshop
2023 Generator Financial Literacy for Independent Artists course
2023 Business in the Streets YCEO entrepreneurship mentorship
2022 Brown Girls Doc Mafia: Mafia Mastermind participant
2021-present Mentorship with Producer Jessica Hallenbeck of Lantern Films
2021 Mini-mentorship with filmmaker Natalie Murao
2021 Mentorship with filmmaker Lindsay McIntyre in analogue and handmade film
2020 Emily Carr University of Art and Design, BFA, major in Film, Video and Integrated Media, minor in Social Practice and
Community Engagement
2011 University of Toronto, Hon. BA, major in English Literature
Awards, Residencies and Scholarships:
2022 UnionDocs Summer Development Lab, full scholarship awardee
2021 Lind Prize Longlist
2021 Hot Docs Accelerator Lab Fellowship
2020 Lind Prize Longlist
2020 Duplex Artist-In-Residence Program (EMO Collective)
2019 Best Canadian Short Film Award, Vancouver International Film Festival
2019 President's Media Award for Live Action Film, Emily Carr University
2019 VIVO Video Out Distribution Award, Emily Carr University
2016-2017 Christopher Foundation Scholarship
Grants:
2023 SparkFund, Business In The Streets YCEO Program
2021 Canada Arts Council Explore and Create Grant
2021 BC Arts Council Early Career Development Grant
2021 Creative BC Equity and Emerging Grant
2020 Antimatter Commissioned Video – “Pandemic Postcard”
2020 F-O-R-M Short Film Grant, Festival of Recorded Movement
2019 CAC Micro-Grant (EMO Collective)
2018 CAC Micro-Grant (Social Practice Kitchen)
Community Involvement:
2023 Women In Film and Television Toronto (WIFT-T) member
2022-present Documentary Organization of Canada member
2022-present Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto member
2022-present Brown Girls Doc Mafia member
2022-present The D-Word member
2022-present Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) member
2020-present Cineworks Annex Darkroom Committee member
2019-2020 Experimental Media Outsiders (EMO) member
2017-2019 Social Practice Kitchen co-founder and organizer
2019 Temporary Collective member
Bibliography:
“Building Community on the New Campus Through Food.” Emily Carr University of Art and
Design, 7 Aug. 2018, ecuad.ca/news/2018/building-community-on-the-new-campus-through-food.
Langlois, Justin, “Why Art Schools Need More Socially Engaged Art.” Canadian Art, 27 Sept.
2018, canadianart.ca/essays/why-art-schools-need-more-socially-engaged-art.