Heejoo Gwen Kim works as an experimental animated filmmaker, new media arts, and educator currently creating projects focusing on social issues, such as microaggressions, feminism, elder abuse, and human trafficking in experimental narrative film structures. She holds MFA degrees from The School of Art Institute of Chicago (MFA in Film, Video, New Media and Animation) and The University of Illinois at Chicago (New Media Arts) and BFA degrees from The School of Art Institute of Chicago (Art and Technology Studies) and Hongik University (Painting and Drawing).
Her films and installations have been internationally presented at festivals and galleries in Germany, UK, Lebanon, Mexico, Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Philippine, India, Latvia, Canada, Korea, Italy, Ecuador, and throughout the United States. Her films have received awards including Best Animation, Best Experimental Film, and Best of Show at several international film festivals. She had been a director, curator, an adjudicator for International Animation + New Media Art festivals, conferences, and shows.
Currently she is teaching at University of Connecticut. She previously taught at The University of Montana in Media Arts, The School of Art Institute of Chicago in Art and Technology Studies, Bowling Green State University in Digital Art, and Columbia College Chicago in Interactive Arts and Media.
heejoo.kim@uconn.edu
Detailed working progress Project site:
unwearablefunctional.wordpress.com
heejoogwenkim.wordpress.com
heejoogwenkimportfolio.wordpress.com
paramnesia09.tumblr.com
Student works:
studentworkskim.wordpress.com
Professional Honors of Creative Accomplishments: Awards, Interviews, & Presentation
2021 Behind The Loom awarded for “Best Documentary Short” Halicarnassus Film Festival, Bodrum, Turkey
2021 Behind The Loom awarded for “Best Documentary Short” Cambodia independent Film Festival, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2021 Behind The Loom selected for “Nominee” Feel The Reel International Film Festival, Glasgow, UK
2021 Behind The Loom selected for “Semi Finalist” Luleå International Film Festival, Luleå, Sweden
2021 Behind The Loom awarded for “Best Film on Women” Uruvatti International Film Festival, Tamil Nadu, India
2021 Behind The Loom awarded for “Best Experimental” Toronto International Women Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
2021 Behind The Loom awarded for “Honorable Mention” Art Film Awards, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
2021 Behind The Loom awarded for “Best Documentary Short” Port Blair International Film Festival, Port Blair, India
2020 Invited Presentation “Online Guest Lecture at The University of Wisconsin – Madison” Film/Motion Graphic/Typo graphics. Madison, Wisconsin, USA
2020 Invited Presentation “IDMAA(International digital media arts association)”, Suum : Virtual Reality Art Game, MN, USA
2019 Interview with Dario Rutigliano and Melisssa C. Hilborn, Curator in Art Habens Magazine, London, UK
2019 Hidden Awarded “Short film award” South Film and Arts Academy Festival, O’Higgins, Chile
2019 Hidden Awarded “Best Social Short” Open Window International Film Challenge, Bengal, India
2019 Hidden Selected “Semi Finalist” FESTPRO Film Festival, Moscow, Russia
2019 Hidden Selected “Semi Finalist” Los Angeles CineFest, Los Angeles, USA
2019 Invited Presentation “Department of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture Seminar”
Suum Virtual Reality Art Game, University of Connecticut
2019 Invited Presentation “ISEA(International Symposium on Electronic Art)” Suum : Virtual Reality Art Game, Kwangju, Korea
2019 Invited Presentation “IEEE GEM USA” Suum : Virtual Reality Art Game, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2019 Invited Presentation “SECAC(The Southeastern College Art Conference)”, Suum : Virtual Reality Art Game, Chattanooga, TN USA
2018 Invited Presentation “Alliance of Women in Media Arts and Technology Conference,” University of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California USA
2017 Flossenbürg Awarded “Best Experimental” Woodengate Flilm Festival, Baia Mare, Romania
2017 Flossenbürg Selected “Finalist” Alternative Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
2017 Flossenbürg Selected “Finalist” Wollongong Film Festival, Wollongong, Australia
2017 Flossenbürg Selected “Semi Finalist” So Limitless and Free Film Festival, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2017 Flossenbürg Selected “Semi Finalist” Al Film Fest, Tehran Alternative Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
2017 Flossenbürg Selected “Semi Finalist” Los Angeles CineFest, Los Angeles, USA
2017 Unwearable Functional: Akinetic Mutism Selected “Finalist” Sarajevo Fashion Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2017 Invited Presentation “Virtual Reality/Environment/Game/Animation” China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2016 Interview with Kirk Baird, Toledo Blade, 04/01/2016
http://www.toledoblade.com/KirkBaird/2016/04/01/Oculus-Rift-welcomes-the-future.html
2015 “Best of the show” award, International Digital Art Association Exhibition, Tennessee, USA
2015 “School of Arts Grant,” Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, USA
2015 “Speed Grant,” Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, USA
2015 “Medici Circle Grant,” Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, USA
2015 “Faculty Development Fund,” Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, USA
Selected Screening / Exhibition / Presentation
2021 CineFem 9 International Film Festival, Maldonado, Uruguay
2021 Halicarnassus Film Festival, Bodrum, Turkey
2021 Feel The Reel International Film Festival, Glasgow, United Kingdom
2021 Stockholm City Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden
2021 Uruvatti International Film Festival, Tamil Nadu, India
2021 Cambodia Independent Film Festival, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2021 Barcelona Indie Filmmakers Festival • BARCIFF, Barcelona, Spain
2021 Rome Outcast Independent Film Award, Rome, Italy
2021 New York Flash Film Festival, NY, USA
2021 Art Film Awards, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
2021 Toronto International Women Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
2021 Port Blair International Film Festival, Port Blair, India
2020 Roma Cinema DOC, Rome, Italy
2020 SENSUS Film Festival, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2019 American Documentary and Animation Film Festival and Film Fund, Palm Springs, CA, USA
2019 Athens ANIMFEST, Athens, Greece
2019 Dumbo Film Festival, NYC, NY, USA
2019 Docademia’s 3rd Short Documentary Contest
2019 AI FILM FEST, Tehran
2019 The Lift-Off Sessions, UK
2019 Santiago Independent Film Awards, Santiago, Chile
2019 Los Angeles CineFest, Los Angeles, USA
2019 FESTPRO Film Festival, Moscow, Russia
2019 South Film and Arts Academy Festival, O’Higgins, Chile
2019 Open Window International Film Challenge, Bengal, India
2019 UK monthly film fest, UK
2019 Beyond the Wall Festival, Manchester, UK
2019 The Lift-Off Session, Iver, UK
2019 Open Window International Film Challenge, West Bengal, India
2019 Docademia’s 3rd Short Documentary Contest, Chicago, IL
2019 Enfoque International Film Festival, Cobo Rojo, Puerto Rico
2019 14th Athens Animfest, Athens, Greece
2019 Kyiv Film Festival, Kyiv, Uklaine
2019 AI Film Festival, Tehran
2018 Contemporary Venice, Venice, Italy
2018 Indie Capital Awards, Camp Springs, MD, USA
2018 The Columbus Moving Image Art Review, Columbus, OH, USA
2018 13th Athens Animfest, Athens, Greece
2018 Al-Nahj International Film Festival, Karbala, Iraq
2018 Emerge Film Festival of Maine, Maine, USA
2018 SPE Media Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
2018 Alliance of Women in Media Arts and Technology Conference, Santa Barbara, California USA
2017 Alternative Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
2017 Burcharest ShortCut CineFest, Burcharest, Romania
2017 Largo Film Awards, Switzerland
2017 FIFF-Filmstrip International Film Festival, Lasi, Romania
2017 Move Me Productions Belgium – Short Film Festival, Belgium
2017 Roma Cinema DOC, Rome, Italy
2017 FROSTBITE International Indie Fest, Colorado, USA
2017 Feel The Reel International Film Festival, Glasgow, United Kingdom
2017 Los Angeles CineFest, CA, USA
2017 So Limitless and Free Film Festival, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2017 Wollongong Film Festival, Wollongong, Australia
2017 Woodengate Flilm Festival, Baia Mare, Romania
2017 Sarajevo Fashion Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2017 eviMus, Saarbrücken, Germany
2016 South London Shorts, London, UK
2016 AGHE Conference, Miami, FL, USA
2016 Yego Show, Illinois, USA
2016 FIVA, Festival Internacional De Videoarte, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2016 Yewon Show, Seoul, Korea
2016 Allucinema Fest, Puebla City, Mexico
2016 Moving Pictures Festival, Kalmthout, Belgium
2016 Better than Art, Cincinnati, OH
2016 FIVA, Festival Internacional De Videoarte, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2016 SHORT to the Point, Bucharest, Romania
2016 Festival de Cortometrajes “Jose Francisco Rosado” PACAS, Pedro Muñoz, Spain
2016 IndieWise Virtual Festival, Miami, FL, USA
2016 The Sit & Tell Project, Collingwood Art Center, Toledo, OH, USA
2016 3rd Women’s Voices Now Online Film Festival, Rolling Hills Estates, CA, USA
2016 Animation Day in Cannes, France
2016 Filmideo, 11th Annual Film and Video Screenings, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, USA
2016 Los Angeles CineFest Online, Los Angeles, USA
2016 11th Athens Animfest, Athens, Greece
2016 IT’S LIQUID EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA AND VIDEO ART FESTIVAL, The Underground Cinema, Kent, UK
2016 Artists in Motion, Artists Lovers Extravaganza Conference, The University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas
2016 Barcelona Erotic & Bizarre Art Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
2016 SEAMUS (Society of Electro-Acoustic Music US) Conference, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA
heejoo kim 