PEAFOWL

presented by
Calgary Queer Arts Society

PEAFOWL / 공작새 (GONG-JAK-SAE) (2022)
Alberta Premiere

A transgender woman who lives and works in Seoul as a dancer must deal with her father’s passing, and the expectations placed on her to take part in a traditional, gendered memorial dance.

Shin-myung (Choi Hae-jun) is living her best life in Seoul, except for one thing: she needs money for gender reaffirming surgery. Having cut all ties with her biological family and rural hometown, Myung decides to compete in a cutthroat waacking championship to win the money.

Suddenly, she is hit by tragedy. Her estranged father, a master of Nongak folk music and dance, has just passed away. He has kept her in his will, on the condition that she returns to the village to perform a traditional drum dance ritual. Her journey home will force her to reconcile her relationships with her family, both living and dead, while holding on to her sense of identity at all costs.

Press for PEAFOWL:
“Sympathetically tracing the travails of a fiery pre-op trans woman who travels from funky Seoul to the countryside for her father’s funeral, this is a confident, colourful and smart crowdpleaser[…]” – ScreenDaily

Director: BYUN Sung-bin

Writer: BYUN Sung-bin

Producers: BONG Su-ji, BAE sun-ok

Executive Producers: BYUN Sung-bin, YOON Suk-chan

Key Cast: Hae-jun, KIM U-gyeom

Editor: LEE Young-hoo

Cinematographer: SLOANE KIM Hae-in

Music: CASEPEAT