In Edhi Alice, director and queer activist Ilrhan Kim interrogates how documentaries about trans communities are made: the creative decisions, relationships, and ethical questions involved. The subject of the documentary is Edhi, who works as a counsellor for LGBTQ+ teens in Seoul, and has decided to undertake gender reassignment surgery. Edhi’s story intertwines with that of Alice, the lighting technician on the film crew and an older trans woman, who is preoccupied with challenging popular stereotypes about female and male bodies. This powerful and thought-provoking documentary refuses to compromise in its depiction of post-surgery recuperation, but offers an authentic portrayal of the trans experience and allyship in South Korea. Edhi Alice is a generous, delicate film and - courtesy of Alice’s lighting - a visually stunning one.

Content Note: contains depictions of post-surgical recovery, discussions of suicide and transphobia

Queer East is a cross-disciplinary festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema, moving image work and live arts from, and about, East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities.