Talent Guide
Mun Chee Yong
![](https://www.filmindependent.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/yong_mun_chee-pi2004.jpg)
- Discipline:Director
- Program Year:Project Involve 2004
Bio
Mun Chee grew up in Singapore. Her curiosity to see the world drove her to apply for and win a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics. In the following three years, she traveled widely to Europe and parts of the Middle East. Upon graduating with a degree in Monetary Economics, Mun Chee returned to Asia to work as a broadcast journalist, covering social and political stories in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. Later, she co-produced and directed Extraordinary People, winner of an Asian Television Award for Best Documentary Series.
She directed a few episodes of television drama in Singapore before leaving for the United States to study film production at the esteemed USC Film School, where she focused on directing and also cinematography. Her works often center on human emotions and their irrationality. She became the first Singaporean to win a Directors Guild of America Student Film Award for her short film “9:30.” The film was a hit in the US, Asia and Europe, gaining TV & DVD distribution in the US. It was invited to screen at over 50 film festivals worldwide, including Deauville, Edinburgh and Cannes Film Festival’s “Kodak Showcase” and “Tou Les Cinemas Du Monde”. The short also picked up a Special Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival.