WIDC Feature Film Award winner Gloria Ui Young Kim’s debut feature Queen of the Morning Calm will have its world premiere at the 2019 Whistler Film Festival.  Kim (Flamenco Movie, Why Do I Dance?) is also winner of Telefilm Canada New Voices Award. The film starring Tina Jung (Kim’s Convenience, Make It Pop), Shaun Benson (The Boys, Killjoys), Jesse LaVercombe (Mary Goes Round, American Gods) and introducing newcomer, Eponine Lee, is up for Whistler’s prestigious Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature.

Screenings:

Saturday, December 7th, 5:00pm @ Village 8 Cinemas – Theatre 8
Sunday, December 8th, 12:00pm @ Village 8 Cinemas – Theatre 5

An original screenplay written by Kim, Queen of the Morning Calm follows 29-year-old immigrant sex worker Debra, and her self-aware 10-year-old daughter Mona, as they embark on a journey of emancipation. Debra attempts to escape cycles of abuse and poverty while learning to become a more nurturing mother and discovering her own self-worth.

The script was long-listed for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, earning Kim both the Spotlight on Screenwriters, the Telefilm Canada New Voices Award and further development through the WIDC Story & Leadership program.

“I’m thrilled to be premiering my film at the Whistler Film Festival where I won the Women in the Director’s Chair Feature Film Award for the script in 2016. It’s been 12 years in the making and it’s so gratifying not only because it feels like I’m coming full circle, but also to be launching this special woman of colour’s story at a festival that champions women’s and diverse voices,” said Director Gloria Ui Young Kim.

Cinematography by Dmitry Lopatin (Oksana and Viktor, Dead Weight, Teenagers, E), production design by Carly McGrath (Save Me, Birdland) and Josh Turpin (An Assortment of Christmas Tales in No Particular Order), editing by Michelle Szemberg (Below Her Mouth, Natasha) and Orlee Buium (The Corruption of Divine Providence) with music composed by Stephen Krecklo (The Hero Effect, Ollie the Boy Who Became What He Ate).

Queen of the Morning Calm is produced by Kim’s company Gloryous Productions in association with Hawkeye Pictures, with Sonya Di Rienzo (Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies) taking on executive producer duties along with WIDC’s Carol Whiteman (Red Snow, Never Steady Never Still). Josh Barsky (Fifi’s Return, Stall Boy) serves as co-producer.

Queen of the Morning Calm is also produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Feature Film Award, The Harold Greenberg Fund, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.

About WIDC Feature Film Award
Initiated in 2009, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Feature Film Award is an national Canadian prize designed to support a Canadian woman or gender minority to complete their first or second narrative feature film. Eight feature films have been completed through this award including Never Steady, Never Still (dir, Kathleen Hepburn); Suck It Up (dir, Jordan Canning); Red Snow (Marie Clements) and Rustic Oracle (dir, Sonia Bonspille Boileau).

Winners receive in kind support for from Panavision Canada, SIM Group, Poste Moderne, Keslow Camera Film and Digital, William F. White Intl., Walters Lighting & Grip, North Shore Studios, Encore Vancouver, Technicolor Toronto, Skylab Vancouver, White Hart Productions, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House Clearances Inc, Descriptive Video Works, Front Row Insurance, National Captioning Canada; Line-21.

About WIDC
Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is an internationally respected Canadian professional development offering, founded in 1997 through an initial collaboration among ACTRA, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Women In Film and Television Vancouver. WIDC is specially designed to advance the skills, careers and fiction screen projects of women directors. With 260 director alumnae across Canada who have directed 100’s of hours of quality screen entertainment, WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, CBC Films, and appreciates the participation and support of ACTRA National, UBCP-ACTRA, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, and ACTRA Alberta, Creative BC, Independent Production Fund, and community collaborations with 1st Weekend Club, WIFT Vancouver’s International Women In Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, and the Whistler Film Festival.

Contact: enquiries@widc.ca | www.widc.ca | facebook.com/widc.ca | @WIDC_ca | #WIDC