Ungsan Kim

Ungsan Kim is Assistant Professor of Asian Cinema jointly appointed in the Department of Film, Television, and Media and the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. His research interests include Korean cinema, contemporary Vietnamese and Chinese language cinema, inter-Asian cinema, experimental cinema, popular cultures of East Asia, and queer theory. His current research explores the emergence of critical and political queer cinema of Asia since the 1990s. His first monograph explores the aesthetic and political response of queer Asian cinema to the neo-nationalist, neoliberal governance, social conservatism, and the progress-driven modernization in the region. What he is particularly interested in is the theorization of queer temporality and kinship in such cinemas, which he understands as a critical modality that challenges the progressive and teleological national time.

Dr. Kim regularly teaches courses on Korean cinema, queer Asian cinema, Asian horror cinema, and Korean popular culture. He is also interested in developing and teaching courses on Korean documentary, women’s cinema of Asia, Vietnamese cinema, and queer media cultures of East Asia.