For Ellen

Director and writer, So Yong Kim was born in Pusan, South Korea and immigrated to the US when she was twelve. She studied painting, performance, and video art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned her MFA. She has made several experimental short films including A Bunny Rabbit, shot by renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Kim also produced Bradley Rust Gray’s award-winning Icelandic feature, SALT, in 2003. In 2006, Kim was featured as one of the “25 Filmmakers to Watch” in Filmmaker Magazine.

Kim’s first feature, In Between Days, was acclaimed by critics and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival along with the International Critics’ Prize at Berlin. It was also awarded an LA Critics Prize and Best Film and Best Actress Prizes at Buenos Aires. Kino International and the Sundance Channel released the film in North America, and With Cinema released the film in Korea.

Treeless Mountain is So Yong Kim’s second feature film. The script received support from the Cannes L’Atelier Program, the Sundance Institute’s Writers and Directors Labs, and the Pusan Promotional Program. —spiritawards.com