Who We Are
About Us
I am Kyeng McGuirk, an emerging documentary film director and producer based in Honolulu and a second-generation Korean American woman. In 2021, I founded a production and media company, Mānoa Film and Media LLC. to produce educational films and other media content that focuses on women and under-represented communities in the USA and Korea. Women and creatives as a group have not been well documented in the annals of history or film. I am best known for the documentaries, including The ‘Ilima Lady (2023) co-produced by Pacific Islanders in Communication and premiered at the Hawai'i International Film Festival, and a member of Hawai'i Women in Filmmaking, Hawai’i Filmmakers Collective and volunteers with Smithsonian's SITES/SA program. I participated as a fellow in Hawai'i Women in Filmmaking Wahine in Film Lab (2023) and Firelight Media/Groundwork Hawai'i Film Lab (2023). I also have judged the University of Hawai'i Mānoa School of Cinematic Arts Abernathry Screenplay Competition (2023) and was selected as a screener for HIFF 2024.
Growing up in upstate New York, my immigrant parents had very little in the way of cultural community beyond extended family and the local Korean American church. Very little of my own heritage was reflected in the history books, magazines, films that I grew up with. Consequently, I traveled in search of stories that represented and gave voice to my identity. This search ultimately led me to travel to far flung places like Seoul, the Maldives and now Honolulu. Though the geography and culture may have varied widely, I realized that I had an ability to find stories of resilient creatives and artists who inspire me with their ability to transform the world through their work.
Our Production Team
Our team consists of collaborative partnerships across international borders and disciplines who bring together a knowledgeable and cohesive skillset. Our cinematography partnerships have a combined 20 years of industry experience both in the US and Korea. The editorial partnerships have decades of commercial experience to produce cinema quality imagery and sound. Our commitment to substance and ethical considerations is as important to the process. So we have cultural advisors and researchers with whom we collaborate.
