Director, Writer, Researcher
Chul’s filmmaking career has spanned more than two decades and earned him credits on both fictional and non-fictional feature films, as well as short films, TV series and music videos. Chul has directed three feature films which have been distributed in theaters nationwide in South Korea. The most recent fiction, “The Return” (2017), won the Golden Zenith Award, winner in the First Fiction World Competition at the 41st Montreal World Film Festival. His two nonfictional feature films, “Ari Ari the Korean Cinema” (2012) and “Mira Story” (2015), which made a national controversy in South Korea by raising the critical views on the role of the government and capitalistic power in filmmaking and local community respectively, and have been screened in international film festivals in Paris, Bhutan, Busan, and Irvine.
He has been very active in advocating marginalized voices in society by making more than fifteen short films both in Korea and America. Tackling Asian American identity issues, his film "Between Two Worlds" (1996/1998, 30 min.) triggered a national conversation about Asianness in the United States and received awards in Rochester International Film Festival, Asian Cinevision Video Showcase and Sinking Creek Film Festival. Dealing with the national tragedy of Sewol Ferry accident in Korea, "Grief over the Sewol Ferry Disaster" (2015, 14 min.) was shown in the opening event for the candle-light protest in Seoul against the corrupted Korean government. His various other short films received international recognitions and screenings in Paris, Riyadh, Taipei, Milano, Istanbul, New York City, Chicago, Williamstown, Davis, Rochester, Nashville, and San Francisco. Also, Chul participated in television documentaries and talk shows for PBS in New York City and MBC network in Korea as a director, producer, and host. His television works have been broadcast nationally on PBS stations in the U.S. and MBC network in Korea. As a film festival director, he founded Annual San Francisco Korean Film Festival in 2001 and was actively engaged in film festival movement in the U.S.
As a film and television scholar, Chul has taught at various institutions including Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Korea University, San Francisco State University and the University of Iowa. He specializes in film aesthetics, media production, and cultural studies. Chul Heo received his Ph.D. in Media Studies from the University of Iowa and M.F.A. in film/television production from Brooklyn College of City University of New York.
