Lee Il-ha
Arts&Culture Gender&Sexuality Social&Human Interest
The signboard for Club ¡®Trans¡¯ turns on and lights up. 20 years of drag queen ¡®More¡¯, when the More¡¯s show begins, audiences cheer for him and tips rain down onto the stage. More always wanted to be a Ballerina, not a Ballerino. When the world told him to ¡°Renounce your femininity!¡± his dream died on the vine. Now people call him ¡®Drag Queen¡¯. More and his boyfriend, Jenya have been together for 20 years. More did not have sex reassignment surgery because Jenya told More ¡°You are beautiful just as you are¡±. They want to get married, but Jenya¡¯s visa has expired. One day, John Cameron Mitchell from Hedwig saw More¡¯s show and was deeply moved. John said to More ¡°Hope to see you in New York¡±. Several months later, More received an invitation from New York¡¯s finest theatre. Can More¡¯s show as a ballerina be successful in New York? Will More¡¯s marriage to Jenya will be possible?
There are people who straddle boundaries. More is always straddling a borderline between man and woman, beauty and beast. The stage of the Club Trans, where he has been working for 20 years, is the borderline between the world and himself. On the stage, he flaunts his identity and confronts the world in his own way. For More, ¡®Drag Show¡¯ is noble meal ticket that also challenges the way the world defines him. Previous films were about people who straddle boundaries that tell stories of how individuals challenge and communicate with the world. This film More has two layers: one is a conventional documentary detailing More¡¯s daily life and the other is a musical documentary showing the past days of More through music and dance. I want to unfold the transformational story of an artist who wants to challenge boundaries and overcome trauma using a musical documentary style.
Lee Il-ha
A Crybaby Boxing (2015)Goldfish and Razor (2010)Roadmentary (2008)Latte Index (2006)