“Lessons From Jeju”
Director: Nicole Gormley
13 minutes, 2020, Korea & USA, English & Korean
Seven months pregnant professional freediver, Kimi Werner, visits the Haenyeo, the iconic group of freediving working mothers that have shattered norms in Korea, to find a deeper understanding of what it means to pass on her own legacy to her child.
Nicole is a multi-hat wearing, documentary filmmaker, television producer, and photographer with the central aim to tell stories that inspire people to rethink our relationship to nature and protect the environment. Using her natural ability to connect with people, she approaches projects from the lens of a shared human experience, ultimately creating empathy and understanding through her work. After graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology, she went on to produce projects for several of the world’s leading media outlets including Netflix’s Emmy-nominated series Ugly Delicious and dozens of international expeditions for National Geographic & Discovery Channel. Nicole’s directorial debut, a short documentary film titled, Lessons From Jeju, produced and distributed in partnership with Patagonia Films recently won the Woods Hole Film Festival Jury Award for Best Documentary Short (2020) and the Jury Award for Best Cinematography (2020).
Nicole is currently producing and directing her first feature documentary film slated to be released 2022. Looking back, she has mounted cameras on great white sharks, chased polar bears high above the Arctic Circle, and slogged the Himalayas with heavy camera gear yet her favorite part is the people she’s met along the way. Her mission is simple; tell authentic, compelling stories that transcend images and inspire action.
Clients include: Branded: Patagonia, Lululemon, PrAna, Nissan, Keen, Toyota, Bass Pro Shops; Television: Netflix, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, CNN, Channel 4.
