About Kim Bora
Born 1981. Kim Bora is a South Korean film director and filmmaking.
Kim Bora is a South Korean filmmaker with an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University. She is represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Her debut feature film, House of Hummingbird, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Best Film Award in the Generation section. House of Hummingbird was named one of the classics of modern South Korean cinema by The Guardian, as well as a New York Times Critics’ Pick. It went on to receive 62 awards from prestigious festivals, including Tribeca Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Istanbul Film Festival, and the Busan International Film Festival, as well as Korea’s Blue Dragon and Baeksang Arts Awards—often referred to as the Korean Oscars.
Career Born in South Korea in 1981, Kim Bora graduated from Dongguk University with a degree in film. In 2007, she left for Columbia University in the U.S., and received a Masters of Fine Arts in film directing. Her film The Recorder Exam (2011) was her created graduation film project, and it won Best Student Filmmaker for the East Region from the Directors Guild of America. After the release of the film, Kim began to work on the script that would be based on her own childhood. Later, she moved back to Korea and gave lectures in the colleges where she studied.
In 2018, after seven years of working on the script and production, her debut film House of Hummingbird was released, winning multiple awards. House of Hummingbird is a coming-of-age film about a girl, Eun-hee, who was a part of the expanding 1990's economy, and, due to her flawed family, is searching for validation through love and reasons to continue living. Kim said that the incidents in this film are based on incidents and events that occurred throughout her childhood, after having a nightmare while living in New York and decided to understand what she had gone through. 2019
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2019 Ale Kino! International Young Audience Film Festival
2019 Athens International Film Festival Best Screenplay 2019
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Best Film Best Directing 2019
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2020 Asian Film Critics Association Awards NETPAC Award Best New Director
Young Adults Jury Award Critics Prize
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Frequently asked questions
Who is Kim Bora?
South Korean director
When was Kim Bora born?
Kim Bora was born on 30 November 1981 in Seoul.
What is Kim Bora's occupation?
Kim Bora is a film director and filmmaking.
What nationality is Kim Bora?
Kim Bora is South Korean.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Kim Bora. https://biography.guide/kim-bora/
MLA: "Kim Bora." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/kim-bora/.
Chicago: "Kim Bora." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/kim-bora/.
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