NEW YORK, NY.- Production has been announced on Untitled Nam June Paik Film, a feature-length documentary on the maverick artist featuring unseen footage and archival materials. The film is directed and produced by Amanda Kim. Producers are Jennifer Blei Stockman (The Price of Everything), David Koh (Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, Kusama: Infinity), Amy Hobby (What Happened, Miss Simone?), and Jesse Wann (Wormwood). The film will be completed in 2022.

Executive Producers are Kenzo Digital (Artist/Director/Producer, Air), Steven Jang (Kindred Ventures), Steven Yeun (Minari, The Walking Dead), Fab 5 Freddy (Visual Artist, Filmmaker, Hip Hop Pioneer), and Florence Sloan (Delhi Crime). Co-Producers are Mariko Munro, Heejung Oh and Alain de la Mata. Director of Photography is Nelson Walker (Making of a Murderer, In Transit). Editor is Taryn Gould (Tina (Turner), All I Can Say).

The film is a Nam June Production made in association with Kindred Ventures, Seesaw Pictures, Octopus Originals, and Gyopo. This is the first authorized documentary made in association with the Estate of Nam June Paik.

Nam June Paik is often referred to as the "Father of Video Art” and was a prophet of the internet and a visionary and futurist. Adopting technology to transform the way we see the world, he was one of the first to use television as an artist’s canvas and invented the video synthesizer. In a report in the 1970s, he coined the term “Electronic Superhighway” and predicted the future of communication in the digital age. He launched a series of the world’s first global satellite art events, bridging the gap between East and West, pop and avant-garde, and all genres of art by featuring artists such as Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Joseph Beuys, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Issey Miyake, to name a few. His influence can be felt more than ever in today’s hyperconnected screen-dominated culture.

Reflecting his stature as one of the first truly global and transnational artists, the film will trace Paik’s life from childhood as he traveled across the world. He fled to Japan from his native Korea at the outbreak of the Korean War. He then moved West to Germany and subsequently to New York City where he settled in 1964. His travels and experience with war led him to question national borders and cultural differences in an increasingly connected world.

The film will include interviews and footage with/of Charlotte Moorman, Yoko Ono, Jonas Mekas, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, George Maciunas, Bad Brains, David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and John Hanhardt, among many others.




Amanda Kim stated, “Nam June Paik imagined the ways in which communication technologies and the media could be a tool to foster electronic empathy between different cultures. His vision feels extremely relevant today and I am thrilled to be able to share his inspiring story.”

Producers Jennifer Stockman and David Koh stated: “Nam June Paik is one of our creative heroes and an inspiration to every artist working today. Surprisingly, he is still unrecognized by the larger public and we hope our film will change that. It is a real honor to work with the estate, the family of the artist, and with Amanda Kim."

Fab 5 Freddy stated, "Andy Warhol and Nam June Paik were the two artists that inspired me to make art and I'm happy to be the spark to help this project going."

The deals were negotiated by David Koh on behalf of filmmakers and producers along with Anne Atkinson, Pryor Cashman LLP on behalf of Ken Hakuta and the Estate of Nam June Paik.

The film has the support from the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Kramlich Foundation, The Ford Foundation/Just Films, HBO/IFP New Story Fund, and Korea Communications Agency.

A retrospective of Nam June Paik, which originated at the Tate Modern Museum London, was recently shown at SFMoMA 2021.

The film comes at a time when there is a current explosion of Korean culture in film, TV and music in the USA and around the world with the recent successes of Squid Game, Parasite, Minari, BTS, and Blackpink.

Amanda Kim was previously a Creative Director at Vice Media. This is her first feature-length documentary.