Private Project

Kang Blue

During the pandemic, a 4-year-old Asian girl, facing COVID-related adversity, finds the courage to free herself from her security blanket.

  • Kyung-Ja (KJ) Lee
    Director
    Halmani, Lotus Pond, the Caregiver
  • Kyung-Ja (KJ) Lee
    Writer
    Halmani, Lotus Pond, the Caregiver
  • Kyung-Ja (KJ) Lee
    Producer
    Lotus Pond, the Caregiver
  • Ja-Eun Koo
    Key Cast
    "Mrs. Kang"
  • Hazel Lee
    Key Cast
    "Emily"
  • Min-Soo Lee
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Kang"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 54 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 21, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    12,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    May 8, 2022
    World
  • LA Femme International Film Festival
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    October 13, 2022
  • Katra Fall Film Series
    New York
    United States
    October 10, 2022
    East Cost
    Outstanding Female Director
Director Biography - Kyung-Ja (KJ) Lee

Lee is a bilingual Korean-American woman who obtained her Master’s degree in psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York in 1980. While working at a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh (1981~1984), she made a short film which earned 1st Prize at the Regional Film Competition. She then decided to explore her newly found interest in filmmaking and moved to Los Angeles.
After completing her Master’s degree in directing at AFI (1990) with multiple award winning short film (aired on PBS), Lee continued her independent filmmaking career and received numerous awards and fellowships, including Rockefeller Foundation Asian Artist Fellowship, Sundance Screenwriters Lab (1995), Producers Guild of America Diversity Project Fellowship (2006), Shanghai International Film Festival Co-FPC Showcase (2010), AFCI Cineposium Producer Show (2013) and was in development with PBS American Playhouse (1993) and HBO Pictures (1994~1995) as a Writer/Director of a feature project Koreatown Blues set against the 1992 L.A. Riot.
Lee was also involved in co-production feature projects with US and Asia. Currently, she's developing several mixed-genre feature films.
In 2021, she was a fellow in ARRAY’S Inaugural Seminar and was awarded a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

“Kang Blue” is a story of summoning strength in order to survive the pandemic lockdown. Since Trump’s usage of “China Virus,” thousands of hate-crimes have occurred against Asian-Americans in California alone, giving a serious psychological blow to Asian-American health workers in particular.
Through the eyes of a 4-year-old Asian girl, separated from her father who is a doctor in a COVID ward, her family’s daily life reveals seething emotions. After her mom faces COVID related racism, the little girl senses the fear of the unknown. She then manages to sacrifice her most important possession (security blanket) and ultimately sets herself free with an opportunity to grow.
The film is a visual poem of a simple story with a strong character arc. Each scene interweaves harmony and discord of life during the pandemic, and becomes a tapestry of racism, love and suffering...
The color blue is a metaphor of strength, caring and freedom within us, painting throughout the film’s canvas: Elsa’s blue princess dress with magical power, the heroic health care workers in blue uniforms, and blue bioluminescent waves and glowing blue dolphins gliding in the open ocean-- beckoning us to persevere...
As a fantasy healing prayer, the little girl dances on her bare feet, wielding her magic wand, and summons the blue dolphins to synchronize their powerful breath with her dad’s, on a hospital ventilator.
Let the breathing thrive...