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asian queers at the festival
The Swell in Asia In many ways, what took place i n North America th ree decades ago is hap pen ing today in Asia: the launch of new q ueer fi l m festiva ls in Seo u l , Hong Kong and Si nga pore; a n astounding va riety of q u eer ba rs in Kuala Lu m pu r, Shanghai , Del hi and Bom bay. Asia n fi l m makers have slowly and q u i etly cre ated q u eer-i nspired fi lms over the yea rs . Sti l l , it's been a gradual swell, not the ts unami-like i m pact that's ta ken place in the West. There a re "fa m i ly" fi lms (TH E WEDDI N G BANQU ET, F I R E); q ueer-curious ones ( EAST PALAC E, WEST PALAC E); com i ng-out docum enta ries (OSAKA STORY, Sta nley Kwa n's STI LL LOVE YO U AFTER ALL T H ESE); youthful fi lms ( Ryos uke Hash iguchi's LI KE G RA I N S OF SAN D and A TO U C H OF FEVER ); experi menta l ones (M USCLE); Ta iwa nese (J o-Fei Chen's WH E R E IS MY LOVE?) , Korean ( B RO KEN B RA N C H ES) a nd I ndian ( BO M G AY). They all emerged gently from the closet, a ha ndfu l each year.
2002 and Counting Suddenly it's 2002, a n d the SFI LG FF is honored to open the Festival with Sta nley Kwa n 's award-wi n n i ng featu re LAN Y U , a s u btle but powerful love story set in modern-day Beij i ng. And an astonishing th ree other new fil ms are set in China as wel l : the lesbian d ra ma FISH & ELEPHANT; the docu mentary SNAKE BOY, a bout q ueer si nger Coco; and S H A N G HAI PAN IC, a narrative a bout a gro u p of cu ltu re mavens hol d i ng court in modern Sha ngha i . From Hong Kong, there's S PACKED O U T, a gritty slice of h igh school l ife; I AM NOT WHAT YOU WA NT, a rea lity-style comi ng-of-age-a nd out ta le; and WU YEN , an over-the-top gender-bending comedy set 2,000 years ago i n a n cient C h i n a . From Ta iwa n's C h e n comes a q u iet, cou ntryside story o f a cha nce encou nter between two women in I NC I DENTAL JO U R N EY. From J a pa n , we have a sop h isticated trio of fi l m s: Hashiguchi's H U S H ! , a refi ned urba n ta le of gay lovers i n Tokyo lea rning to create a fa m i ly; Desi ree Lim's S U GAR SWEET story of a lesbian pornogra pher; a nd a spectacular a n i me fi l m , R EV OLUTIONA RY G I R L UTENA: TH E M OV I E . A look at South Korea's ventu res into q u eer rea l ities and fantasies incl udes a gender-less roma nce i n the eye brow-raising h it B U N G EE J U M P I N G O F T H E I R OWN ; R U N N I N G B LU E, a deeply personal story a bout being Korean and tra nsgender; and the never before-seen q ueer ROAD MOV I E. F R I E N DS I N H I G H PLACES i ntroduces us to Bu rmese nats, or spi rits, and the homosexua l med i u ms who channel them . The reveal i ng documen tary G EORG I E G I R L looks at the first tra nsgender mem ber of Pa rlia ment in
N ew Zealand, and Hawa i i 's tra nsgender com m u n ity is celebrated i n KE K U LA N A HE M A H U : R E M EM B ER I NG A S E N S E OF PLACE. An enl ightening progra m is I EXIST: VOI C ES FROM THE LES B IAN AND GAY M I DDLE EAST E R N COM M U N ITY; one highlight is J U ST A WO M A N , a bout an I ra nia n transsexua l . Other shorts incl ude STAG from the U . K. , S U ET-S I N 'S S I STERS from Hong Kong, T RA N SG R ESS I O N S from the U . S . , FI N E CH I NA from Ca nada, and more from I nd ia, Samoa and Austra l i a .
Why Now-and What Took So Long? Was it America n c u ltural i m peria l ism? Did the West " i nfect" Asia and the rest of the world with q ueerness? Hard ly. LG BTs exist everywhere in every coun try, fa ith , cultu re and com m u n ity. But in most Asian societies, where the sense of i n d ivid ual identity often takes a backseat to the col lective fa m i ly and gro u p identity, it ca n be a struggle for many Asia ns to feel that their own desi res (sexual or otherwise) and individual truths deserve a voice. Perhaps what held people back was access to resou rces-money, knowledge, eq u i p ment. Perha ps it was fear of persecution . After all, how accepta ble is it sti l l , today, t o b e gay and Asian, and t o prod uce a p u b l i c docu ment a bout it?
The Future
Will Asians ever have their own "Wi l l & G race" ( " Ch u ng & Mei-Li n " or " Riyad & Meena")? And who wi l l be next? Wi l l African and then Ara b cu ltu res em brace their own q ueer versions, too? Like in the West, the n u m ber of fi lms wi l l increase, and so wi ll produc tion va l ues and popula rity. M o re people wi l l l ive open ly as LG BT, and they wi l l fear less. Some thi ngs may even begin to look l i ke the West-perhaps we'll see legal forms of domestic pa rtners h i p . Yet some thi ngs will proba bly l ook the sa me, too. The weave of fam i ly and social fa bric i n Asia wil l likely rem a i n similar to what it has a lways been . . . just with' d ifferent cha racters playing out the d rea ms. Boys and their boyfriends may have their parents or sibli ngs move i n with them or share a home with extended fa m i l ies. Women may ra ise their c h i l d ren with lesbian pa rtners, alongside their mothers and sisters and cousi ns. Witness the evol ution of love in LA N Y U , watch a coincidenta l meeti ng of potential lovers unfold i n I N C I D ENTAL J O U R N EY, hope for a gay male cou ple and their female friend to ra ise a child together in H U S H ! This is a gl i m pse of the futu re of q ueer Asians. And we saw it here in 2002 at the 26th S F I LG FF. -Corey Tong
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