Other than film screenings and the panel discussion lined up on Day 2, we are proud to present the following partner events as part of our exciting line up for Queer Asia 2016!
Indonesian Double Bill: Mom from Jambi + A Question for Dad
Part of Gender Agenda!
Date: 8 June 2016 Time: 4.00 PM
Venue: Bertha DocHouse
Directors: Multiple
1. Emak dari Jambi (Mom from Jambi)
Dir. Rikky M. Fajar and Anggun Pradesha, Indonesia, 2015, 40 mins
A flight ticket to Jakarta becomes an answer of Mom’s (Ibu Kartini) many years longing for her first son (Anggun Pradesha). She leaves Jambi for the first time to travel to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, leaving her husband and other children behind. Soekarno-Hatta airport is the witness of Mom’s surprise meeting with Anggun. This film is part of a trilogy that focuses on family secrets. It was filmed and produced in early 2015 under the banner Project Change, which is under the auspices of the Kalyana Shira Foundation based in Jakarta.
2. Pertanyaan untuk Bapak (A Question for Dad)
Dir. Yatna Pelangi and Mayk Wongkar, Indonesia, 2015, 40 mins
The relationship between Yatna and his father is traumatic. After 20 years of separation, Yatna decides to return to his place of birth, to ask a very important question that has bothered him all this time. This film is part of a trilogy that focuses on family secrets. It was filmed and produced in early 2015 under the banner Project Change, which is under the auspices of the Kalyana Shira Foundation based in Jakarta.
The Struggle for LGBT Rights in Taiwan, A Discussion with Victoria Hsu
Speaker: Ms Victoria Hsu
Date: 9 June 2016 Time: 1:00 PM
Finishes: 9 June 2016 Time: 3:00 PM
Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: KLT
Type of Event: Seminar
Organiser: SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies
Victoria Hsu is Co-founder and CEO of Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) which is one of the most important lgbt organizations in Taiwan.Victoria is Attorney-at-Law (admitted in Taiwan in 1999) and PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law at Université Paris X (France). She has two Master of Law degrees from the Université Strasbourg III (France) and from National Taipei University (Taiwan). She was also an openly lesbian candidate in Taiwan’s 2016 legislative election.
Click here for more information.
Contact email:bc18@soas.ac.uk
Our Marriages: When Lesbians Marry Gay Men
An event with He Xiaopei, organised by the Contemporary China Centre and at the University of Westminster
Homosexuality takes many forms in different cultures and times. In China, as the demand to marry and multiply continues to be high, some lesbians and gay men have adopted an unusual arrangement to alleviate such pressure. Negotiations take place and agreements set up between consenting lesbians and gays to adopt a form of contract marriage with detailed terms and conditions of marriage and married life. Then they carry out a wedding for their families and appear to live as normal heterosexual couples to the unknowing eye.
How do lesbians negotiate their lives as lesbians and filial daughters? How are such contract marriages arranged? And how does the couple navigate the complicated duties and obligations of married life? “Our Marriages – Lesbians Marry Gay Men” follows the negotiations, the weddings, and the lives of four lesbians for two years in a big city in the northeast of China, documenting their manoeuvres and problems. The film raises important questions and reflections concerning the institution of marriage and homosexual life in contemporary Chinese society.
Director: Dr He Xiaopei
“Hills trained me to be a shepherd and the Himalayas turned me into a mountaineer. A government job made me an economist while the women’s movement converted me into a feminist. Participating in lesbian organizing in China helped me realize that people with disabilities, HIV positive women, sex workers and lesbians married to gay men are particularly oppressed and that their voices are mostly silenced. Pink Space, I co-funded, works with people who are marginalized due to their gender and sexuality and uses images to enable people to have their representations.”
Director/Speaker: Dr He Xiaopei
Date: 10 June 2016 Time: 7:30 PM
Finishes: 10 June 2016 Time: 9:00 PM
Venue: University of Westminster – 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW- View Map
Type of Event: Film Screening
Please REGISTER to secure a place.
From Street to Family: Film and Queer China
An event with Popo Fan, organised by the Contemporary China Centre and the Queer London Research Forum at the University of Westminster
In 2009, Popo Fan made New Beijing, New Marriage in which he interviewed a range of individuals regarding their opinions about LGBTQ people. Many people were positive in their reactions except when they were thinking about their own families. This then inspired Popo Fan to make family issues a key focus of his work, and he subsequently produced Mama Rainbow (2012) and Papa Rainbow (2016).
Whilst the idea of the family has changed quite dramatically in recent years, there is still considerable control exerted by the government – evidenced, for example, by the censoring of Mama Rainbow on the internet. Certainly there is more action to be taken, and a long way to go in changing attitudes.
At this event, Popo Fan will screen both New Beijing, New Marriage (18 mins) and Mama Rainbow (28 mins), talk about his life as a queer film maker, and answer questions from the audience.
This event is free BUT YOU MUST REGISTER (link above). The event will be held in UG05 in the 309 Regent Street building.
Popo Fan is a queer independent filmmaker and curator based in Beijing. He is the author of Happy Together: 100 Queer Films (Beifang Wenyi Press, 2007), and he directs the China Queer Film Festival Tour, which has travelled to over 20 major cities in China since 2008. His documentary works mostly focus on LGBTQ/gender issues and includeNew Beijing, New Marriage (2009); Paper House (2009); Chinese Closet (2010); Be a Woman (2011); Mama Rainbow (2012); and The VaChina Monologues (2013).His films have been shown in film festivals around the world, including Vancouver International Film Festival, Frameline (San Francisco), OUTFEST (Los Angeles), Kashish (Mumbai), Q Film Festival (Jakarta), CinemAsia (Amsterdam), and Asian Hot Shots (Berlin), and he has been a committee member of the Beijing Queer Film Festival since 2009. In 2011, Popo Fan received the Prism Prize of the 22nd Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and in 2015 he won the award of Visual Inspiration of the year at ALMA (Asia LGBT Milestone Awards).
Director/Speaker: Popo Fan
Date: 13 June 2016 Time: 6:00 PM Add to Calendar
Finishes: 13 June 2016 Time: 17:30 PM
Venue: University of Westminster – 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW- View Map
Type of Event: Film Screening