Michael Cho was born in Los Angeles, California in 1966 and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He holds a BA as a college scholar from Cornell University and a MFA in film and video production from the California Institute of the Arts. His documentaries have focused on people and the ways in which they interact with their communities.

His works have earned best documentary awards at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival and the Chicago Asian American Film Festival, and honorable mention at the Atlanta Film and Video Festival. His works have been screened at Tomorrowland (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Korea Top Film Festival (Seoul) Beware! By playing the phantom, you become one (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and Documenta X, Kassel), Dallas Video Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival, Finding Family Stories (Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles), Downsizing the Image Factory (L'Unite d'Habitation, Firminy, France), Mill Valley Film Festival, D'Ghetto Eyes (the Kitchen, New York), Beyond the Color Line (LA Freewaves), Across the Pacific (Queens Museum of Art), Hawaii International Film Festival, In and Out of the Cold (International Documentary Congress, Los Angeles) amongst many other venues. Curated television broadcasts include Life & Times (KCET, Los Angeles), Videoscapes (CUNY-TV, New York), Independent Focus (WNET, New York), In the Living Room Festival (KQED, San Francisco), Through the Lens (WYBE, Philadelphia) in addition to national broadcasts on PBS and NHK-TV (Japan). He received a Durfee Foundation travel grant to photograph ethnic minority communities in China’s border regions.

Michael is currently completing a MD at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. As part of his studies, he is working on a web-based series of short stories that explore patient perspectives on living with illness. He plans on combining his medical and media skills as a physician and documentarian.

Artist Code: 026