Born in South Korea, Stephen Kang moved to New Zealand as a teen, then studied at Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts. His debut feature, Korean émigré tale {Dream} Preserved was judged Best Digital Feature at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards. Kang scored further success with Blue — which follows a children's TV mascot with blue skin, who is reduced to working as a waiter. It won the Critics' Week section of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, after being one of 1250 initial entries. The same year saw the release of Kang’s feature Desert, the tale of a woman abandoned by her fiancé on her wedding day.
I wanted to have an ironic take on a seemingly simple fairytale in a modern context.
Stephen Kang on his award-winning 2011 short film Blue
Delivery
2018, Director, Writer, Producer - Short Film
Both Worlds
2012, Director, Writer - Television
Sali Speaks
2012, Director - Short Film
Blue
2011, Director, Writer - Short Film
Blue tells the story of a fallen kids’ television mascot, reduced to working as a waiter in an Asian restaurant. Blue keeps his happy face on as he serves customers food; occasionally he's recognised from his screen fame days, but mostly he's ignored. Then one day bad news arrives. The urban alienation themed film was named Best Short in the Critics' Week section of the Cannes Film Festival, after just 10 films were selected from 1250 entries. Korean-born Stephen Kang moved to New Zealand in 1993; his digital feature Desert was released in Kiwi theatres in 2011.
Desert
2010, Director, Writer - Film
{Dream} Preserved
2005, Director, Writer - Film
