Lee Young-jin and Kang Jin-ah’s ‘Ideal Family’ Selected as Closing Film for the 16th Seoul International Pride Film Festival

The 16th Seoul International Pride Film Festival has selected director Kim Ji-hyun’s feature debut A Normal Family as its closing film. The festival runs from Nov. 5 to Nov. 11 at CGV Piccadilly 1958, closing the seven-day event with the lesbian road movie.

The 16th Seoul International Pride Film Festival Closing Night Selection

A Normal Family had its world premiere in the Korean Cinema section of the 2026 Jeonju International Film Festival. The narrative follows an essayist named Dasen who wants to step outside societal boundaries, and a civil servant named Heesu who wants to protect an ordinary life. The two characters are a lesbian couple on the verge of divorce, raising two middle school daughters named Soli and Woni.

When Heesu’s younger sibling holds a wedding and Dasen faces an inheritance issue, the four family members embark on a road trip together. Along the way, the children discover their mothers’ past stories. Seoul International Pride Film Festival programmer Kim Seung-hwan noted that the director wanted to talk about an abnormal yet ideal family, capturing both meanings in the core of the film.

A Normal Family is a work that shows us the future we will face a step ahead.

Kim Seung-hwan

Queer Family Realities and Cast Background

In South Korea, same-sex couples cannot legally marry, and even when raising children together, both partners struggle to secure legal parental recognition. A Normal Family tackles the separation of a queer couple raising children, a theme rarely explored in Korean feature-length queer cinema. Kim Seung-hwan praised lead actress Lee Young-jin for returning to middle-aged queer representation after starring in youth queer cinema decades earlier, citing the actor’s professional sincerity.

Lee Young-jin plays the older mother and essayist Dasen, twenty-seven years after her Baeksang Arts Award-winning turn as Sieun in the 1999 film Whispering Corridors 2: The Tree. 강진아 (Kang Jin-ah) plays the younger mother and civil servant Heesu, bringing experience from independent projects like The Slug, To My River, and Love of Truman. Director Kim Ji-hyun previously directed shorts including Evolution in the Age of Globalization in 2017 and Time for Affection in 2019.

I thought the worries a queer couple faces wouldn’t differ substantially from the conflicts of a heterosexual couple. I wanted to unravel their lives not through a special lens, but as a very ordinary story.

Kim Ji-hyun

Festival Lineup and Public Trailer Release

Alongside the closing film announcement, the festival released its official trailer featuring highlights from 116 films across 34 countries. The footage pairs scenes with themes of diversity, inclusion, pride, solidarity, and network. The opening film is Black Ball, anchoring a lineup that explores international queer lives and relationships.

While the festival dates and closing film are confirmed for the CGV Piccadilly 1958 venue, the full schedule and specific screening times for all 116 international titles remain to be sequentially unveiled by organizers before the Nov. 5 opening.