Cho Sung-hyung (born June 26, 1966) is a German film maker, director, editor and professor living and working in Germany with South Korean roots. She got German citizenship in 2016 for her documentary ''My Brothers and Sisters in the North''.

Biography

Cho was born on 1966 in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

, and grew up in Seoul. When she was five years old, her mother moved to West Germany, where she worked as a nurse. Cho received a BA in Mass Communications Studies from

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the "SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in the ...

. In 1990, Cho moved to Marburg in Germany to pursue an MA in art history, media studies and philosophy at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

. She continued with post-graduate studies in Theater Film and Media Sciences at

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

and a course in electronic images at Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main. Between 2004 and 2007, she had taught ''Editoring, Documentary and Dramaturgy'' at

SAE Institute The SAE Institute (SAE, formerly the School of Audio Engineering and the SAE Technology College) is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit college with campuses and facilities, including license ...

and was between 2008 and 2009, an assistant lecturer at the Technical University of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

; in 2010 as an assistant professor. Since 2011, Cho teaches as a regular professor ''The Art of Film/Movie Making'' at the University for Visual Arts of Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany. She worked as a freelance editor and led

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

seminars at the Filmhaus Frankfurt and SAE Institute. She also directed

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s. Since 2018, she has been a member of the jury of the Federal Festival of Young Film at St. Ingbert.

Film career

Cho was an assistant editor for the German television series ''

Ein Fall für zwei ''Ein Fall für zwei'' (''"A case for two"'') is a German television series, which premiered on 11 September 1981 on ZDF. The series, set in Frankfurt am Main, features two main characters who solve crimes: a defense attorney and a private invest ...

'', also working on documentaries and music videos. Her documentary ''

Full Metal Village ''Full Metal Village'' is a 2006 documentary film about the lives of the residents of a small village in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken, in a series of interviews and visual tableaux as it prepares for the annual Wacken Open Ai ...

'' received the Hessian Film Award in 2006 and the Max Ophüls Prize and was named best documentary by the Guild of German Art House Cinemas in 2007. In 2016, Cho had filmed and was starring in the documentary ''Meine Brüder und Schwestern in Nordkorea'' – other international titles: ''Meine Brüder und Schwestern im Norden'', ''My Brothers and Sisters in the North''. She was the first South Korean director who was allowed to visit North Korea after

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

without being charged for treason by South Korea, because she has a German passport. She gave up South Korean citizenship and took the German one just for making this documentary and getting a visa and the permission of shooting from North Korea.

Selected filmography

Director & Editor

* ''

'' (2006) * ''Home from Home'' (2009) * ''11 Freundinnen'' (2011) * ''Endstation Der Sehnsuchte'' (2012) * ''Far East Devotion – Love Letters from Pyongyang'' (2015) * ''Two Voices From Korea'' (2015) * ''My Brothers and Sisters in the North'' (2016)

Editor Only

* ''Freudenhaus'' (2001) * ''Verirrte Eskimos'' (2003) * ''Parzifal in Isfahan'' (2004)

Awards

Won

* 2006: Schleswig-Holstein Film Award for ''Full Metal Village'' * 2006: Hessian Film Award for ''Full Metal Village'' * 2007: Max Ophüls Award for ''Full Metal Village'' as first documentary ever * 2007: Guild of German Art House Cinemas Award for ''Full Metal Village'' * 2007: Award for advancing of upcoming artists of the

DEFA Foundation DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

* 2009: Best regional long film of 2. Lichter film festival for ''Endstation der Sehnsücht'' * 2016: Best regional long film of 9. Lichter film festival for ''eine Brüder und Schwesterin im Norde'' * 2016: Best documentary film at 26. Filmkunstfests Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for ''Meine Brüder und Schwesterin im Norde''

Norminated

* 2007 Golden Eye Award Zurich Film Festival for ''Full Metal Village''

References

External links

*
Personal homepage

Personal university homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Sung-hyung 1966 births Living people South Korean women film directors South Korean film editors People from Busan People from Seoul University of Marburg alumni Women film editors Yonsei University alumni