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Grace Lee (director)

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Grace Lee
Lee in 2015
Born1968 or 1969 (age 56–57)
Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation(s)Film director, producer
Notable workThe Grace Lee Project
Websitegracelee.net

Grace Lee is an American director and producer. She is known for both her documentaries and narrative films, which often mix in elements of documentaries.

Early life and education

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Grace Lee was born in 1968 or 1969.[1] She is of Korean heritage and grew up in Columbia, Missouri.[2]

She originally wanted to be a journalist, but after interviewing sex workers in South Korea, she realized that she could tell better stories through film. Back in the United States, she enrolled in UCLA in Los Angeles, California.[3]

Career

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Her first short, Girl Meets Boy was, according to Lee, a two-minute "response to those who have questioned my ability to speak loudly and in English".[4] In 2000, she won a UCLA Spotlight Award for her short film The Ride Home.[5] Barrier Device, her master's thesis, stars Sandra Oh and won a silver medal at the 29th Student Academy Awards. In 2002, she was profiled in Filmmaker as one of the New Faces of Independent Film.[4] Her 2004 short film Best of the Wurst was nominated for the Berlin International Film Festival's Berlin Today Award[6] and is featured in the Deutsches Currywurst Museum.[7] Following this, she filmed The Grace Lee Project, a 2005 documentary about Asian-American women who share her name.[3] With In-Ah Lee, she formed LeeLee Films in 2006.[8]

American Zombie, her feature narrative film directorial debut, was released in 2007. A mockumentary about zombie civil rights in Los Angeles, it satirized her earlier experience with documentary films.[9]

Janeane from Des Moines, released in 2012, is about a conservative housewife who attends the 2012 Republican Party primary in Iowa. The film mixes staged scenes and real interviews with Republican politicians, conducted in character without the knowledge of the media or politicians. ABC World News Tonight picked up the story, not realizing that Janeane is a fictional character.[10] American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs is a 2013 documentary about Grace Lee Boggs, an activist that Lee met while filming The Grace Lee Project.[11] Her next documentary, Makers: Women in Politics, aired on PBS in September 2014 as part of a series based on Makers: Women Who Make America.[12]

In December 2015, Off the Menu: Asian America, a documentary about Asian food, aired on PBS.[13]

Other activities

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In 2020, Lee was one of 40 creatives who contributed a written piece for the Ford Foundation's Creative Futures series. Titled "More than one lens", her essay looked at inequitable funding by the public broadcaster PBS, comparing the amount of time and funding given to documentary-maker Ken Burns (a white man), compared to work by people of color.[14] The essay inadvertently led to a controversy involving GBH news presenter Emily Rooney, after the BIPOC collective Beyond Inclusion had written to the PBS president asking for details about funding. Rooney suggested that work by filmmakers of color may not stand up to that of Burns. She later apologised publicly for her comments.[15]

Recognition

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In November 2015, Lee received funding from the Sundance Institute as a part of the "Women at Sundance" Fellows program.[16]

Filmography

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Title Year Director Producer Writer Notes
Girl Meets Boy 2000 Yes No Yes Short
The Ride Home 2000 Yes No Yes Short
Barrier Device 2002 Yes No Yes Short
Best of the Wurst 2004 Yes No No Short, documentary
The Grace Lee Project 2005 Yes Yes Yes Documentary
American Zombie 2007 Yes No Yes Also co-stars as a fictionalized version herself
Janeane from Des Moines 2012 Yes Yes Yes
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs 2013 Yes Yes Yes Documentary
Makers: Women in Politics 2014 Yes Yes No Documentary
Off the Menu: Asian America 2015 Yes No No Documentary

References

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  1. ^ Rapold, Nicholas (March 20, 2014). "Tracing an Activist Through Decades". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  2. ^ Holden, Stephen (December 14, 2005). "Who Can Grace Lee Be? Personalities Behind a Name". The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Wang, Oliver (June 17, 2014). "Documenting Change: The Evolution of Grace Lee". KCET. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "25 NEW FACES OF INDEPENDENT FILM 2002". Filmmaker (Summer 2002). Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  5. ^ Feiwell, Jill (June 13, 2000). "Nine Bruins earn kudos". Variety. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  6. ^ Meza, Ed (June 29, 2003). "Berlin Fest fetes young filmmakers". Variety. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  7. ^ Copley, Caroline (August 13, 2009). "German cult sausage gets own museum". Reuters. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  8. ^ Meza, Ed (February 15, 2006). "Producer, Talent Campus alum form LeeLee Films". Variety. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  9. ^ Gore, Chris (2010). Chris Gore's Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide, 4th edition: The Essential Companion for Filmmakers and Festival-Goers. Random House. p. 211. ISBN 9780307875082.
  10. ^ Anderson, John (September 30, 2012). "A Mockumentary Pulls In Real Players". The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  11. ^ "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs". PBS. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  12. ^ "TCA: PBS Orders More 'Women Who Make America', Interviews Lena Dunham, Sarah Silverman, Shonda Rhimes". Deadline Hollywood. January 21, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  13. ^ Pei, Annie (December 1, 2015). "New PBS Documentary Defines Asian-American Identity Through Food". NBC News. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  14. ^ "Grace Lee on more than one lens". Ford Foundation. 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  15. ^ Guerra, Cristela (April 16, 2021). "GBH's Emily Rooney Apologizes For 'Uninformed, Dismissive and Disrespectful' Comments About Filmmakers Of Color". WBUR News. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  16. ^ Berger, Laura (November 6, 2015). "Women at Sundance Fellows Announced: Jennifer Phang, Lyric R. Cabral and More". Indiewire. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
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