2020 FELLOWSHIP AWARDED TO CHRISTINA SUN KIM
/We’re thrilled to announce Christina Sun Kim as our tenth Schmeer Fellow!
photo credit: So Yun Um
She’s a skillful storyteller who wove together the personal and political with empathy and sensitivity in the feature documentary Land of My Father. Her intelligence, thoughtfulness and respect for the craft of documentary editing shines both in her work and in how she talks about it. As an emerging editor, she has a strong drive to grow her craft and engage with the documentary community and we are so pleased to support her as she grows throughout her fellowship year and beyond.
Her mentors for the year will be Kimberley Hassett (Shirkers, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator), Karen K.H. Sim (Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper, Who Killed Garrett Phillips), and Miranda Yousef, ACE (Inequality For All, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution).
After learning that she had been chosen for this year’s fellowship, Christina said, “I am living my dream right now through the Karen Schmeer Emerging Editor Fellowship. The opportunity comes to me after a time of soul searching and recommitting to my dream of being a documentary editor. To be welcomed into such a uniquely supportive community comprised of amazingly talented yet generous filmmakers is a tremendous honor and encouragement to me. In the coming year, I look forward to furthering my craft as an artist as I learn from my mentors. Particularly in light of the challenges of 2020, I also feel compelled and inspired to do more in proactively building an inclusive community, both on a personal level and as a member of the film industry. As the fellowship was established ten years ago to honor Karen Schmeer’s giving spirit, I, too, hope to reflect her kindness and compassion for all people, in my work as well as in uplifting other editors who need the opportunity for access and exposure to achieve their dreams.”
Christina is a Los Angeles-based editor who grew up in South Korea and the Midwest of the United States. Her work has screened at SXSW, CAAMFest, the Jeonju International Film Festival, the Documentary Channel and PBS. She discovered her love of editing while studying documentary filmmaking at the University of Texas at Austin and soon after graduation, edited Tattooed Under Fire, an ITVS-funded film about Iraq veterans and their emotional scars.
After receiving an MFA from UCLA, she was named a Film Independent Project Involve fellow and spent time producing and editing short social justice documentaries, collaborating with Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmakers and a network of community organizers throughout California. Her short The Migration Continues, which chronicles a group of DREAMers fighting to defend DACA, was a finalist for the 2018 Shorty Awards. Land of My Father, a film about two lives that are intertwined with a remote disputed island, marks her return to long-form documentary editing. Matthew Koshmrl, the director of Land of My Father, raves about Christina, “She is the single most significant person I have collaborated with in film.”
As a storyteller, Christina has focused on bringing humanity to misunderstood populations in hidden sectors of our society and around the world. She is currently working on So Yun Um’s feature documentary, Liquor Store Dreams, the director’s personal journey of racial reconciliation in the face of a fading generation of Korean-owned liquor stores in Los Angeles.
Christina will be recognized as this year’s fellow on Thursday, October 1, 2020 during the opening events of the Camden International Film Festival.