Biography

Dahee Yun was born and raised in urban areas of South Korea and received an MFA in Film from Syracuse University. Her films often explore stories about invisible beings, vulnerability, floating, dreams, and the experiences of being a woman and an immigrant. She also addresses animal issues and coexistence with nature in her work, and her practice as a filmmaker pays attention to creating an ethical filmmaking environment. Her award-winning films have screened at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (Taiwan), Saratov Sufferings International Film Festival(Russia), New York International Film Festival(the U.S.), Buffalo International Film Festival(the U.S.), DMZ International Documentary Film Festival(S.Korea), Yogyakarta Festival Film Dokumenter (Indonesia), Asia International Youth Film Festival (China), Seoul International Women's Film Festival (S.Korea), Seoul Independent Documentary Film & Video Festival (S.Korea), Film Festival for Women's Rights (S.Korea), Seoul Independent Film Festival (S.Korea), Korea Youth Media Festival (S.Korea), Diaspora Film Festival(S.Korea), Wonju Rooftop Film Festival (S.Korea), Lift-Off Film Festival(U.K.), Diaspor Film Festival (S.Korea), and Seoul Animal Film Festival(S.Korea). 

 

Artist Statement

How many times do people move in their lives? I have moved 18 times so far, and perhaps I will keep moving. I believe my floating fate comes from my mom, who ran away to a big city from her countryside home when she was 15 years old. She passed away when she was 35 years old, and I was 11 years old. After losing her, my family could not live together, and I wandered, exploring life on my own, following the brave blood my mom gave me. I have been lonely, but at the same time, I have loved to observe the world I wandered, and the experience made me enjoy storytelling and expressing my imagination. I embrace floating women, and my characters always wander to find themselves. At the same time, a film is a tool that allows me to mourn my loss and the death I could not protect. Since I was a kid, I have often had vivid dreams, and dreams are like an extension of the world to me. That is reflected in my work, and I play with the ambiguousness between reality and dream through images and various materials. My floating life and the experience of being on the margins have led to concern for other marginalized beings and to a desire to incorporate that concern into the content of my films. For example, when I lived at a shelter for teen girls, I met many girls who outlived violence and stood firm, and it taught me solidarity and allowed me to focus on women's issues. Besides, it enables my characters to refuse the demand for normality and resist all violence. Moreover, living with cats brought me to another world I had not paid attention to, hence I practice being a vegan, also I have a strong emotional connection with animals. I feel like they are me, so my film has the sensibility of animals. Moreover, studying feminist theories made me rethink all the boundaries, including gender, animals, and border. Thus, making a film is a part of my praxis of feminism.