Award-winning director Gloria Ui Young Kim has kicked off filming on her feature debut. A mother-daughter drama, “Queen of the Morning Calm” stars Tina Jung (“Kim’s Convenience,” “Suits”) and newcomer Eponine Lee. The pic is filming in Toronto, a press release announced.

Described as “a woman’s journey to emancipation,” “Queen of the Morning Calm” centers on Debra (Jung), a 29-year-old Korean sex worker with poor taste in men. She’s currently in a dysfunctional relationship with “a lost puppy-dog and gambler who’s never found his feet in civilian life,” and is determined to make the romance work. Meanwhile, her nine-year-old daughter, Mona (Lee), is witnessing all of her mom’s dating drama play out. “As Debra attempts to break free of the downward spiral they’re in, she is torn between Mona’s need to be with the only father she has known and the new life she is desperately trying to build for them,” the film’s synopsis hints.

Kim, whose shorts include “Flamenco Movie” and “Why Do I Dance?”, developed the screenplay via Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Story & Leadership program in collaboration with the Whistler Film Festival. “Queen of the Morning Calm” received the WIDC Feature Film Award, worth $200,000 in cash and in-kind rentals. Her script also won Telefilm Canada’s New Voices Award.

Kim’s own Gloryous Productions is producing, while Josh Barsky will co-produce. Carol Whiteman (“Never Steady Never Still”) and Sonya Di Rienzo (“Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies”) are serving as exec producers.

“It’s been so rewarding to see my characters come to life in such a vivid way and to voice my story with such an incredible team,” said Kim. “Filmmaking is always such a communal effort and I couldn’t have made this happen without the groundswell of support from the industry and from Women In the Director’s Chair. I’m so grateful.”