Lee Isaac Chung | |
|---|---|
 Chung in a VOA interview from 2021 | |
| Born | (1978-10-19)October 19, 1978 (age 46) |
| Education | Yale University (BA) University of Utah (MFA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Spouse | Valerie Chu |
| Children | 1 |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 정이삭[1] |
| Revised Romanization | Jeong Isak |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chŏng Isak |
| Website | leeisaacchung.com/ |
Lee Isaac Chung (born October 19, 1978) is an American filmmaker. His debut featureMunyurangabo (2007) was an official selection at the2007 Cannes Film Festival and the first narrative feature film in theKinyarwanda language.[2]
Chung gained fame for directing the semi-autobiographical filmMinari (2020), for which he received numerous major awards and nominations, including theGolden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and nominations forBest Director andBest Original Screenplay at the93rd Academy Awards. In 2023, he directed an episode in the third season of theStar Wars seriesThe Mandalorian, and in 2024, he directed the blockbuster disaster filmTwisters.
Chung was born on October 19, 1978,[3] inDenver, to a family fromSouth Korea. His family lived briefly inAtlanta before moving to a small farm in ruralLincoln, Arkansas.[4][5] He attendedLincoln High School.[6]
He is an alumnus of theU.S. Senate Youth Program.[7] He attendedYale University to study biology. At Yale, with exposure to world cinema in his senior year, he dropped his plans for medical school to pursue film-making.[5][8] He later pursued graduate studies in film-making at theUniversity of Utah.[8]
Chung's directorial debut wasMunyurangabo, a movie set in Rwanda, a collaboration with students at an international relief base inKigali. It tells an intimate story about the friendship between two boys in the aftermath of theRwandan genocide. Chung had accompanied his wife, an art therapist, to Rwanda in 2006 when she volunteered to work with those affected by the 1994 genocide. He taught a film-making class at a relief base in Kigali. The movie was an opportunity to present the contemporary reality of Rwanda and to provide his students with practical film training. After he developed a nine-page outline with co-writer Samuel Gray Anderson, Chung shot the film over 11 days, working with a team of nonprofessional actors Chung found through local orphanages and with his students as crew members.[9]
Munyurangabo premiered at the2007 Cannes Film Festival as an Official Selection and played as an official selection at top film festivals worldwide, including theBusan International Film Festival, theToronto International Film Festival, theBerlin International Film Festival, theRotterdam International Film Festival,Roger Ebert's Ebertfest, andAFI Fest in Hollywood, where it won the festival's Grand Prize. It was an official selection of theNew Directors/New Films Festival at New York'sLincoln Center and theMuseum of Modern Art. The film received critical acclaim,[10][11][12] and Chung was nominated at theIndependent Spirit Awards ("Someone to Watch," 2008) and theGotham Awards.[13]
Chung's second film,Lucky Life (2010), was developed with the support of Kodak Film and the Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival. Inspired by the poetry ofGerald Stern, the film premiered at the 2010Tribeca Film Festival inNew York City and was screened at festivals worldwide.
In 2012 Chung was named aUnited States Artists (USA) Fellow.[14]
Chung's third film,Abigail Harm (2012), is based on the Korean folktale "The Woodcutter and the Nymph". It starsAmanda Plummer,Will Patton, andBurt Young and was produced by Eugene Suen and Samuel Gray Anderson. Shot on location in New York City, the film was an official selection at the Busan International Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival, CAAMFest, and winner of the Grand Prize and Best Director at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
In addition to film-making, Chung mentors young Rwandan film-makers through Almond Tree Rwanda, the Rwandan outpost for his U.S.-based production company, Almond Tree Films. Almond Tree Rwanda has produced several highly regarded shorts that have traveled to international festivals.[15] Chung co-directed the 2015 Rwandan documentaryI Have Seen My Last Born with Anderson. Produced by Chung, Anderson, John Kwezi, and Eugene Suen, the film focuses on the family relations and history of a genocide survivor in modern-day Rwanda.
He wrote and directed the semiautobiographical filmMinari (2020), which was released to critical acclaim. Chung wrote the film in the summer of 2018, by which time he was considering retiring from film-making and accepted a teaching job at the University of Utah's Asia Campus in Incheon. Recalling this period, he said "I figured I might have just one shot at making another film ... I needed to make it very personal and throw in everything I was feeling."[16]
In 2020, it was initially announced that Chung would direct and rewrite the live-action adaptation of theanime filmYour Name, replacingMarc Webb as director.[5] In July 2021, Chung departed the project, citing scheduling issues.[17] Also in 2020, it was announced he was developing a romance film set inNew York andHong Kong, produced byPlan B andMGM.[18]
In March 2023, he directed an episode ofthe third season of theDisney+ series,The Mandalorian.[19] In July 2024, Chung directedTwisters, a sequel to the 1996 filmTwister.[20][21][22]
Chung is married to Valerie Chu, whom he met while they were students at Yale.[23][24] They have a daughter.[25]
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Munyurangabo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor and cinematographer |
| 2010 | Lucky Life | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor |
| 2012 | Abigail Harm | Yes | Yes | Uncredited | Also editor and cinematographer |
| 2020 | Minari | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2024 | Twisters | Yes | No | No | Also executive soundtrack producer |
Documentary
Television
| Year | Title | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The Mandalorian | "Chapter 19: The Convert" |
| 2025 | Star Wars: Skeleton Crew | "We're Gonna Be in So Much Trouble" |
The Arkansas Times took note of Chung as far back as 1997, when as a high school senior he was an Academic All-Star:[...]
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