KWON OH

Film excites me.

It is my passion, my purpose.

From the moment when an idea first truly blossoms, to the light of a screening reflecting off the eyes of an audience, I have found no greater thrill in life than that of the film making process.

While I was exposed to film from an early age, the real seduction began for me at sixteen. It was a time when I had found myself not only feeling suffocated by the lack of variety in my life, but also the constant academic pressures of Korean culture. Film served as my escape, a portal to the kinds of people and places that existed beyond what I could find in Seoul. So ravenous was my thirst that many a late movie night slipped into early mornings, more often than not resulting in me not making my way to school until well past noon. And while I may have been arriving late with an empty bag upon my back, you can be sure I always had a swagger in my step and a new story to tell.

Cut to 2005, where I found myself riding a yellow cab into the depths of Manhattan. Amidst all the diversity, the energy, the sheer majesty of the towering city around me, everything just clicked. I knew then and there that I could no longer simply consume film. I needed to create it. A week later I was enrolled at NYU, and I’ve never looked back.

As a filmmaker, I want to tell the stories that haven’t been told.

I want to excite you.

I want a sixteen-year old girl somewhere across the world to not care that she has school tomorrow, because the Kwon Oh film she’s watching is blowing her fucking mind.