Min Sook Lee (; born 1969) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, academic, and political activist.

Early life

Lee was born in South Korea and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of three, growing up in

downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main city centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the nor ...

, where her family owned a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

. Lee and her sisters worked long hours behind the counters, often translating for their parents, who did not speak English. As a teenager, Lee joined the anti-apartheid movement in Toronto, which she credits with introducing her to political activism.

Film career

Lee is a self-taught documentary filmmaker who has directed eight feature documentaries, often focusing on labour, migration, and social justice issues. Early in her career, Lee was news director at community radio station

CKLN-FM CKLN-FM was a community radio station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1983 to 2011, CKLN Radio Inc. was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as a campus-community FM radio station affiliated with Ry ...

from 1996 to 1998, Michael Posner, "Better than Inglourious Basterds - and true". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', November 8, 2012. an assistant to documentary filmmaker Sylvia Sweeney, and a news reporter at television station Toronto 1 from 2004 to 2005. Lee's first feature film, '' El Contrato'' (2003), showed migrant farm workers from Central Mexico facing harsh working conditions in

Leamington, Ontario Leamington ( ) is a municipality in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 29,680 in the Canada 2021 Census, it forms the second largest urban centre in Windsor-Essex County after Windsor, Ontario. It includes Point Pelee Nationa ...

. In response, Leamington farmers issued a

SLAPP Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with ...

suit which delayed the film's release by a year. Lee was awarded the

Cesar E. Chavez Cesario Estrada Chavez (; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), whi ...

Black Eagle Award for the film, which was also a nominee for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social or Political Documentary at the

20th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 20th Gemini Awards were held on November 19, 2005, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was co-hosted by several celebrities, took place at the John Bassett Theatre ...

in 2005. Lee's 2005 film '' Hogtown: The Politics of Policing'' followed a dysfunctional City Hall struggle over the Toronto Police Service's budget during a wave of violent gun crimes and police corruption scandals.Chris Young, "Hogtown puts police board in camera's eye; Filmmaker saw City Hall's rough period But still has faith in Toronto's institutions". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', April 23, 2005. The film won the Best Canadian Feature Documentary award at the

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

. Her 2008 film '' Tiger Spirit'' told the story of

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n families divided by the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

and the border between

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and won the Donald Brittain Award at the

24th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 24th Gemini Awards were held on November 14, 2009, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Ron James, took place at the Stampede Corral in Calgary and was ...

in 2009. She subsequently directed ''My Toxic Baby'' (2009), about toxins in baby products; ''The Real MASH'' (2010), which tells the story of the real people who inspired the movie and television series ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richa ...

''; ''Badge of Pride'' (2010), about LGBT police officers; and '' The Real Inglorious Bastards'' (2012), about Frederick Mayer and his company of European Jewish refugees. ''The Real Inglorious Bastards'' won the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

for Best History or Biography Documentary Program or Series at the

2nd Canadian Screen Awards The 2nd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 9, 2014, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2013.sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

She's the Mayor ''She's the Mayor'' is a Canadian television sitcom which aired on Vision TV in 2011."She' ...

'', which aired on

VisionTV VisionTV is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Category A services, Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is ...

. In 2016, Lee revisited the theme of migrant workers in Canada in her film '' Migrant Dreams'', which examined the plight of a group of mostly

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n migrant workers entering Canada through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. She was awarded the Canadian Hillman Prize, which honours journalists whose work identifies important social and economic issues in Canada, and the Canadian Association of Journalists Award for Labour Reporting. It also received an honorable mention from the Colin Low Award jury at the 2016 DOXA Documentary Film Festival, and was shortlisted for the Donald Brittain Award at the

6th Canadian Screen Awards The 6th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 11, 2018, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2017.

. In 2012, the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts named the Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Award in Lee's honour for her contribution to the cause of migrant workers, citing her work to "engage non-arts audiences, and that challenges Eurocentric notions of art". Lee is a professor at

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...

, where her teaching and research focus on the relationship between art and social change. additionally Lee occupies the position of president at OCAD's faculty union, OCADFA. She previously taught documentary filmmaking at

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...

's School of Image Arts MFA program.

Filmography

Political activity

Lee was the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

candidate in Toronto—Danforth for the 2019 federal election. In her campaign, she committed to bring in a one per cent super-wealth tax on households with a net wealth of more than $20 million. The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated that this measure could bring in $70 billion in new revenue. On election night, Lee finished in second with 33.2 per cent of the vote to incumbent Liberal MP

Julie Dabrusin Julie Aviva Dabrusin (born April 16, 1971) is a Canadians, Canadian Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal politician who has served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada since May 2025. She has served as a member of Parliament (MP) sin ...

.Katie Daubs, "Liberal wins over new NDP hopeful". ''

'', October 22, 2019.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Min Sook 1969 births Living people Canadian documentary film producers Canadian documentary film directors Canadian television producers Academic staff of OCAD University Canadian television directors Canadian women screenwriters Film directors from Toronto Screenwriters from Toronto Canadian Film Centre alumni South Korean emigrants to Canada Canadian writers of Asian descent National Film Board of Canada people Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian women television directors Canadian women television producers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian women film directors Canadian women documentary filmmakers New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons