I wanted to know why those Islamic hardliners at the Q! Film Festival in Jakarta even bothered harassing particpants. Sure it’s held in a largely Islamic country, but there must be greater threats to Islam — the Great Satan perhaps? A little pink celluloid from a nine-year-old film festival couldn’t hurt anybody. Then after looking at the festival’s line-up I finally understood. Five of the films look particularly awesome and if you saw them you’d probably just start blabbing to your straight pals and getting other folks interested in seeing them too. Of course when you have movies with ghost lovers in Switzerland, a fearless Brazilian trans-rocker, and a Japanese virus that turns straight men gay, how can anyone be expected to keep quiet about it?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?: On the day that a man dressed as a giant cat rapes grandpa, the Kanba family finds itself struck by a mysterious virus that makes all its men long for male love. The results are sexy, squirm-inducing, incestuous, and comi-tragic as each man must decide how to cope with his newfound attraction.
WHO’S THE DIRECTOR?: Japanese director Imaizumi Koichi has acted in over 100 “pink” films (Japanese romantic porn) and scribed three successful gay porn screenplays. His first sexually explicit short film Angel in the Toilet now comes on DVD with his first full-length film Naughty Boys, a raucous live-action manga about two adulterous lovers. It features a fortune-telling duck in a wheelchair, a drag queen brawl, and a sex scene involving a snake, a snail, and a frog — genki, ne?
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Homosexuality has long been called a virus and an illness so it’s nice to see a film finally push that idea to its limit. In doing so, the film makes an unexpected intersection with HIV and examines how closeted Japanese men alternately hide and explore their gay desire in a homogenic, family-oriented society. The film also reminds queers of when they first realized that their desire would fate them to live an “untraditional” life.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT: This “semi-autobiographical” film follows Chinese immigrant Ricky as he falls for Pascal a Swiss pickpocket living in Switzerland. When Pascal suddenly dies, Ricky returns to Switzerland haunted by his memory and eager to find his lost soul. During his quest, Ricky discovers Ueli, a Swiss man who is a dead ringer for Pascal. But has Ricky re-discovered his old love or simply found a sad substitute to prolong his heartbreak?
WHO’S THE DIRECTOR?: Openly gay Hong Kong native Kit Hung studied film, video, and new media production in Hong Kong and Chicago and has since made transnational queer films financed by Hong Kong, American, Swiss, and French grants. Universities in Canada and Hong Kong use his 2001 graduate film I Am Not What You Want as material in cultural studies to challenge preconceptions about homosexual masculinity and queer acceptance across national borders.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: China’s expanding economic influence and the emerging push for Chinese gay rights makes Hung’s subject matter germane, especially when combined with his modern aesthetic. He films scenes upside down, overlaps and blurs footage, put multiple scenes into the same shot, and loops audio to convey the troubled mind of his characters. Plus, since I Am Not What You Want and Soundless Wind Chime both feature a main character named Ricky, it will be interesting to see whether Hung follows Ricky into other autobiographical films about his transnational love.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?: For over 30-years São Paulo performer, hairdresser, makeup artist, singer, songwriter, author, and transgender icon Claudia Wonder stood at the forefront of Brazil’s alt-rock scene and battle for LGBT rights. This high energy documentary covers Wonder’s exploits such as taunting police for busting fags instead of armed thieves, speaking on behalf of a sex workers’ union, baring her breasts in a straight men’s magazine, and bathing in blood as Madame Satan in a Myth de Vomito performance with her electroclash band.
WHO’S THE DIRECTOR: 35-year old Brazilian director Dacio Pinheiro worked as a programmer at HBO-Brazil while also directing music videos and short films. His works have shown at queer film festivals around the world including Outfest in LA, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Out Takes New Zealand, and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. You can check out some of his work at his YouTube channel.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Who doesn’t want an avant-garde alt-rocker as a transgender role model? As a well-known national icon who broke somewhat out of the queer ghetto, Wonder provides an model of how to mix art, politics and social justice. Also the director’s hyper-stylized multimedia editing reveals a unique approach to modern biography especially in an age where everyone has video, audio, and writing about them circling the globe.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?: Remember the “the seven deadly bible verses” that openly gay Episcopalian bishop Gene Robinson discussed with us? Well, a lesbian filmmaker has decided to make an entire film about those verses by interviewing professional clerics and queer folks and adding just a dash of her own coming out story alongside some charming animation.
WHO’S THE DIRECTOR?: Ky Dickens got rejected by her sorority sisters at Vanderbilt University when she came out to them. The experience led her to spend three years making Fish Out of Water. But she’s also done other work like filming live musicians like Concrete Blonde, Peaches, and Brazilian Girls; documenting community events around Chicago like Gurlesque Burlesque, Gay Games, and Estrojam; and producing commercial spots for big-name accounts.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Since religious conservatives regularly bash queers with those seven verses, Dickens’ film gives ammo to those who don’t see queers rights as incompatible with religious faith. Also, the world needs more queer female directors and the international exposure of Fish Out of Water could help us see more of Dickens’ work soon.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT: On January 15 1980, Inspector John MacLennan of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force was found dead with five bullet wounds in his chest by a group of fellow officers who had come to arrest him on suspicion of homosexual activities. The catch? He might have been murdered to prevent him from going public with the names of high-ranking police officers also under investigation for homosexual ‘offenses.’ His murder serves as the flashpoint for this documentary about gay marriage, employee discrimination, Pride, activism, and queer subculture through the eyes of Chinese sexologists, legislators, civil rights leaders, and Hong Kong’s first married gay couple.
WHO’S THE DIRECTOR: Straight director David Chow makes sure to delineate between American and Chinese queer rights battles by concentrating on China’s cultural contradictions. For example, queers would love social acceptance but not the publicity of a gay marriage. Also, China wants international businesses to invest there but continues to isolate itself by ignoring social issues affecting women and queers alike.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: China has been slower than Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong in embracing its LGBTQ citizens. Instead of lamenting China’s slow pace, Chow’s film looks at the cultural underpinnings that explain the country’s attitudes toward queers and the consequences affecting China’s ambition as an East Asian world city. As a result, Chow provides a stunning profile of China as a whole instead of just its disenfranchised LGBT community.
Dan
All the Islamic Defenders Front is inspiring is for artists around the world to start drawing millions of pictures of historic figure Mohammad. If they aren’t going to respect other people’s rights, then they shouldn’t expect people around the globe to respect their religion at all. They have harmed Islam more than helped it, hopefully moderate and progressive Muslims will hold them in check.
MrDivaBitch
We should do videos for youtube where we take a dump and then use pages of the koran as toilet paper.
alam
Don’t blame the religion. it’s the misleading organization, blame them.
Blame the narrow minded people behind this. Don’t be another shallow minded and act stupid like drawing Muhammad or make fun of Kuran.
MrDivaBitch
@alam:
You obviously don’t know Islam much, there might be some moderate muslims but the religion itself is NOT moderate, islam extremism is true islam as taught by Mohammed.
alam
@MrDivaBitch:
Do you know Islam?
If you ask me. I know Islam. I was born in a moslem family. Went to a moslem school since kindergarten till junior high school. And I learn Bible from my friends when am at the hugh school. I learn Buddhist when am at college. And I still love Islam as my religion.
if you ask me. I believe I was born to be a gay. I’m a MOSLEM GAY in Indonesia. And am proud of it.
If you ask me. I’m one of the committee for Q! Film Festival for the past 4 years. yes, I’m part of the queer people who run this event. and yes, if you look at the poster of Q! Film Festival at this page, it was from the last year Fest and I am the who design it. I’m designing the poster for the Fest 3 years in a row.
If you ask me. almost 60% of the committee are moslem. and yes, we had FACE TO FACE to what the call their self as Islamic Defender Organization.
You are not here. you are not us. you don’t know what it feels to be us. Till today we have to fight for OUR RIGHTS. to be different. proud to be different because WE ARE ALL HUMAN. but we are not fight against them with hate. because we are here don’t wanna be one of them.
Dan
You cannot bargain with religious leaders who force their religion onto human beings. They are violating religious freedom by forcing their version of religion onto others. Stand up for yourself or they will trample you. The ones that force religion are already hypocrites, evil, greedy, powerhungry and corrupt. Don’t be the victim. The gay and allied community should not put up with this at all. Being a religious leader doesn’t save your ass from being punished for mass human rights violations. Given current technology and skills of the gay and allied community no region on Earth should be violating the human rights of the gay and allied community, much less forcing their version of religion onto people.
tallskin2
@Alam – I support you one hundred per cent in your fight against the bigots of the FSI, from here in atheist England.
And I wish I were there with you to help out.
But please, please, don’t expect me to support or endorse your absurd belief in a non existent sky pixie called allah.
And further, it is no accident that the FSI claim to be muslims, extreme or not. The muslim religion is homophobic deep to its roots. The only countries in the world that have the death penalty for gay sex acts are ALL muslim. So, please don’t treat us like idiots, as gays we know too much about islam for us not to be scared shitless by that religion.
It is no accident that the most bigoted and anti-gay people here in Europe and the US are christians. And they use their religion as justification for their anti-gay attitudes, just as the anti gay bigots in indonesia use islam. But they can use islam and christianity because those religions are intensely anti-gay. If they weren’t anti gay then they wouldn’t be able to use them to justify their anti gay attitudes, would they?
Show me where in the Koran, or bible, where it says it is ok to be gay?
All the sky pixie religions from the middle east, judiasm, islam and christianity are intensely homophobic. Indeed homophobia here in the West didn’t start until christianity became the state religion of the roman empire.
You see Alam, when you say you are gay and at the same time are proud to be muslim that seems to me like you are a slave kissing his master’s feet, enjoying being beaten by his master and worshipping the master who enslaved him in the first place.
In Indonesia, which was originally Buddhist, you have there a great tradition of tolerance and, to be frank, a NICE religion. Why not abandon the horrid religion of islam and choose buddhism instead? (not that I think buddhism is any more true than islam, christianity of judaism)
tallskin2
Oh and a nice little news item I’ve just found about women being whipped in Indonesia because they had the gall to sell food during Ramadan!!
Is this extreme or normal islam punishing these women in this barbaric manner? – it’s obviously normal islam, not extreme.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/indonesia/8037264/Indonesian-women-caned-for-selling-food-during-Muslim-festival-of-Ramadan.html
The two women were found guilty of selling food during the fasting hours of Ramadan, thereby violating Islamic sharia law.
Hundreds of people gathered to watch as Murni Amris, 27, received three lashes and Rukiah Abdullah, 22, received two at a mosque in the city of Jantho, southeast of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
“The two women were found selling rice in a stall at noon during Ramadan. The sharia forbids selling food during fasting hours at Ramadan,” said Marzuki Abdullah, Aceh’s sharia police head.
Ms Amris owned the food stall where Ms Abdullah was selling the rice.
Muslims are supposed to fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan, which took place during August and September this year, but there are exceptions in cases such as illness or pregnancy.
Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is one of several areas of Muslim-majority Indonesia where Islamic sharia laws have been adopted.
The conservative province passed a law last year that imposes death by stoning on Muslim adulterers and a law under which homosexuality is punishable by long prison terms.
Roger
the muslim ‘faith’ is a cancer…
Andre
Christianity itself forbids Gays and does not respect Gays, and you talk about Islam are not respect your right… go back and study your facts.
Andre
@Dan: Christianity itself forbids Gays and does not respect Gays, and you talk about Islam are not respecting your rights… so, i suggest you go back and study your facts.