Christian Lee is a 43rd Annual Telly Award® winning liberated documentarian and artist, currently pursuing a BA in Art from UCLA as a Hoyt Scholar. His work has been published in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Vogue, the Los Angeles Times, the World Photography Organization, Der Greif, and Booooooom. Lee received fellowships and grants from The Gotham, Emma Bowen Foundation, W.M. Keck Foundation, Gold House, KALH, A-Doc, Lenscratch, and YoungArts, among others. An alumnus of Canon’s Eddie Adams Workshop and The New York Times Portfolio Review, he is an Up Next Photographer at Diversify Photo whose moving and still images explore themes of youth culture, assimilation, and intergenerational trauma, all within communities of color. Lee worked in Creative Affairs at Warner Bros. Television, where he won Best Drama at the 2025 WBD Pitch Competition for his limited series, Black Korea. His first photobook, Between Suns, will be released by KGP Monolith in April 2026, and Lee will pursue his MFA at Cornell University in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. He studied with Cauleen Smith, Renee Tajima-Peña, Cosmo Whyte, and Celine Parreñas Shimizu.

(657) 252-0252 | christianalee003@gmail.com | instagram.com/christianmakesfilms/

Full CV Available Upon Request.

The first generation thinks about survival; the ones that follow tell the stories. - Hua Hsu

We are, each one of us, intricately woven into the other’s existence. - Audre Lorde

Education

  • Cornell University - College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, MFA in Image Text (Expected 2029)

  • UCLA - School of the Arts & Architecture, BA in Art (Expected 2026)

Select Bibliography

  • Between Suns, Published by KGP Monolith, Edited by Kris Graves, Designed by Luminosity Lab, Printed in Italy, Edition of 350

Select Awards & Recognition

  • Warner Bros. Television, Creative Affairs Intern (2025)

  • Warner Bros. Discovery Pitch Competition, Best Drama Winner (2025)

  • Emma Bowen Foundation, Fellow (2025)

  • W.M. Keck Foundation, Humanistic Inquiry Fellow (2025)

  • TIME Magazine Global Photographic Portraiture Competition, Winner (2024)

  • The New York Times Coming of Age Contest, Winner (2020)

  • Sony World Photography Awards, Shortlist (2022)

  • Gold House, Gold Compass Fellow in Film (2026)

  • Canon’s Eddie Adams Workshop, Class of XXXVII & Gold Team (2024)

  • Der Greif Guest Room, When They See Us: In Honor of Ava DuVernay & Koyo Kouoh (2026)

  • National YoungArts Competition, Winner in Photography (2022)

  • 43rd Annual Telly Awards, Bronze Prize for Outstanding Student Film (2022)

  • The KALH Future Grant, Winner (2025)

  • A-Doc Allies, Fellowship (2026)

  • The Lenscratch Student Prize, 2nd Place Winner (2025)

  • Diversify Photo, Up Next Photographer (2024)

  • NewFilmmakers x Golden Globe Foundation Fellowship (2025)

  • Booooooom, 50 by 50 Honoree, Staff Photo Feature & Publication (2024)

  • Booooooom Photo Awards, Longlist (2025)

  • National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Silver Medalist (2022)

  • LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards, Editor’s Pick (2024)

  • UCLA, Hoyt Scholar & Art Equity Award (2025)

  • UCLA Arts, Spring Project Award (2025)

  • American Youth Film Festival, Jackie Award (2022)

  • Martin Luther King Jr. Film Festival, Best Impact Film (2020)

  • Princeton University, Collegiate Filmmakers Showcase, Best Student Film Nominee (2024)

  • All American High School Film Festival, Nominee (2020)

  • National YoungArts Foundation, Creative Grant (2024)

  • Mometu College Shorts Film Festival, Best Foreign Language Film Nominee (2024)

  • NeXt Doc Fellowship, Finalist (2026)

  • 23rd Annual National High School Poetry Contest, Winner

  • Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Winner of 6 Gold Keys, 2 Silver Keys, 5 Honorable Mentions (2021-22)

  • 40th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Nextwave Youth Competition Finalist

  • Fearless, Youth Initiative Film Festival, Best Photography Prize (2021)

  • 20th Annual Drexel University High Photography Contest, National Finalist

  • Philadelphia Youth Film Festival, Special Jury Prizes in Screenwriting & Film (2021)

  • Revolution Me Film Festival, Screenwriting Prize & Social Awareness Award (2021-2022)

  • Our Voices Film Festival, Best PSA Finalist (2020)

  • 60 Second Film Festival, Best Short Finalist (2020)

  • Documentary Family Awards, Finalist in Photography (2021)

  • ESMoA Video + Art Film Festival, Semi-Finalist (2020)

  • Newark IFF Youth Film Festival, Semi-Finalist (2018)

  • Kidz Hub Regional Film Festival, National Finalist (2018)

Select Publications & Press

  • “The 2025 Lenscratch 2nd Place Student Prize Winner: Christian Lee,” Lenscratch

  • “See the Winning Photographs From TIME and ASMP’s Global Portraiture Competition,” TIME Magazine

  • “Coming of Age: Teens on a Year That Changed Everything,” Special Print Section, The New York Times

  • “Coming of Age in 2020: Teenagers on the Year That Changed Everything” W.W. Norton & Company

  • ​“Teens on a Year That Changed Everything” The New York Times, The Learning Network

  • “The Documentary and Art Photography of Christian Lee” Vogue Italia, PhotoVogue

  • “Meet the 50 by 50 Honorees” Booooooom, Photography Staff & Editors

  • “A Beautiful Amalgamation of Family Photographs by Artist Christian Lee” Booooooom, Staff Pick

  • “The Next Generation: Young Artists Redefining Photography” Lenscratch

  • “​Anthology and Catalogue: Select Works by YoungArts Winners” National YoungArts Foundation

  • “Christian Lee Refocuses Photographic Narratives on Communities of Color” The Daily Bruin

  • ​“Rising Stars: Meet Christian Lee” LA’s Most Inspiring Stories, VoyageLA Magazine

  • “The Black and White Imagery of Artist Christian Lee” The Adroit Journal, Volume 40

  • “‘Til the Day Breaks: An Original Photo Series” Counterclock Journal, Issue 12

  • “Celebrating Simplicity: Finding Beauty in the Commonplace” Los Angeles Times, High School Insider​

  • “Introducing Christian Lee” Young Photographers International Collective

Solo Exhibitions

  • “Until the Day Breaks” UCLA Little Gallery, Broad Art Center, Los Angeles, California (2024)

  • “The Come & See Project: A Year in Photos” ARC Gallery, La Habra, California (2022)

Select Group Exhibitions

  • “Unbound” Curated by Whitney Cole, Candela Gallery, Richmond, Virginia (2026)

  • “When They See Us: In Honor of Ava DuVernay & Koyo Kouoh” Der Greif, Curated by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis (2026)

  • “2026 Calendar Artists” Candela Gallery, Richmond, Virginia (2025)

  • “Lenscratch Top 3 Student Prize Winners,” The Curated Fridge, Boston, Massachusetts (2025)

  • “Present Tense: Artist Talks,” Medium Photo, San Diego, California (2025)

  • “Contagious Culture Vol. 5” Superchief Gallery, Los Angeles, California (2025)

  • “The Care & Repair Project” UC Irvine School of Humanities, Irvine, California (2024)

  • “Innovate24: The Black Innovation Summit” Center for Digital Transformation, Irvine, California (2024)

  • “Kaleidoscope” Catalyst Undergraduate Art Gallery, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Irvine, California (2023)

  • “Shutter Hub’s Postcards from Europe” Alison Richards Building, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom ​(2022)

  • ”Reel Exposure International Juried Teen Photo Exhibition” Trolley Barn Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York (2022)

  • “20th Annual Drexel University High School Photography Contest” Antoinette Westphal College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2020)

Select Screenings

  • Golden State Film Festival, TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California (2022)

  • All American High School Film Festival, AMC Empire Theatre, Times Square, New York City (2021) *two projects*

  • Princeton Film Festival, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (2024)

  • Adelaide Film Festival, Variety Magazine’s ‘Unmissable Festival,’ Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Adelaide, Australia (2021)

  • Central Film Festival, The Moxie Theater, Springfield, Missouri (2021) *two projects*

  • Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival, Canadian Academy Awards Qualification, Canadian Museum of Immigration (2021)

  • Scout Film Festival, ICA Seaport Studio, Boston, Massachusetts (2022)

  • Kidz Hub Regional Film Festival, Old Bridge, New Jersey (2018)

  • Brooklyn Shorty Film Festival, John D. McFadden, Sr. Young Filmmakers Competition, Virtual Screening (2020)

  • Huntington Beach Cultural Cinema Showcase, Virtual Premiere (2020)

  • Flicks Documentary Film Night, USVA Cultural Center, Groningen, Netherlands (2021)

  • Lift-Off Global Network & First Time Filmmaker Sessions, Pinewood Studios, Iver, United Kingdom (2019-20) *four projects*

  • Newark International Youth Film Festival, Supported by Panasonic, Newark, New Jersey (2018-20) *eight projects*​​

Professional Memberships

  • Diversify Photo, Up Next Photographer

  • NAACP, Adult Member & OC Chapter

  • Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), Photo Member

  • Film Independent, Member & Merit Scholarship Recipient

  • Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Alumni Association, Member

  • PwC US Alumni, Member

Lee’s earliest artistic influences include Cauleen Smith, Pao Houa Her, Dawoud Bey, Elle Pérez, Sung Jin Park, John Simmons, Raymond Meeks, Endia Beal, RaMell Ross, Gregory Crewdson, César Rodríguez, Sam Contis, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Tommy Kha, Mark Leong, and Reagan Louie.