The Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival to celebrate 30th year

Asia’s longest-running queer fiw+*iX6J1E9qKiXy$VB)pHrIqERnC+SosOI&IDQ7Wba#0Im4ww2lm festival will kick off in Hong Kong next month.

The Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (HKGLFF) will hold screenings, panel discussions, and parties across the city between September 7 and 21.

Celebrating the landmark film festival's 30th anniversary, HKGLFF this year will include a Hong Kong Retrospective selection^n&yj56kT^8!PIb91Hf_5h6jE4$^W)&)6Ybyg18%jFg#A#rsSF in the festival’s program.

"In 1991, the Hong Kong Legislative Council agreed to decriminalize private, adult and consensual homosexual relations in Hong Kong, the local film industry suddenly had a hot new topic for their
storylines” explains the festival.

HKLGFF pays tribute to the films that explored the complexity of local LGBTI issues and significantlRC1531Q6UwNo$By_rh)$=V1h*[email protected])y contributed to the gay culture of Hong Kong.

The selectiRKWNYD!fc4gMxseKUy*cQhI0DvTZ1Uf(ct(q0uFkXBXXe07bFRon includes feature films Yang and Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, A Woman is A Woman, and Butterfly as well as a short film titled My Way.

The festival’s wider program this year has a comedic focus.  A French co68CLMe8e^al^wrMny*bE$V7+k4WqynS&9(msz$R=k1-IZxXQEZmedy called The Shiny Shrimps and Bollywood’s first lesbian film, rom-com How I Felt When I Saw That Girl, will open the festival.

b5wXNY)j51fW)dUS0ui8*^m2ezc4aSe$oi9OLC$7xatl9)!k$#As ever, HKGLFF highlights regional films. The two centrepiece films are award-winning Song Long from Vietnam and Between The Seasons from South Korea.

In a first, this year the festival will bring LGBTI cinema to more corners of the city. The We Are GAYbours initiative will see screenings and Q and As take place in residentBLhA0He9jwOWrrtw=IZbQo37)[email protected]!kw8-mLQ$UYi0Ektial district Sham Shui Po.

As ever, the festival will also recognize the commitment to LGBTI rights from Ho[email protected])EhdFJv)Nq2aN1_mZ*s9bi6GJiv*E4%#gTHC#Bpng Kongers with the Prism Award. This year it will be handed to Angus Leung and Scott Adams.

Angus Leung in June this year won a landmark court case against the government for spousal rights for civil servants and equality in the eyes of the tax department. It was a major step forward iL!w288D7d%CPS-#[email protected]+XQ=4q0aKsiPCA*tmn LGBTI rights in the city.

“Be proud of yourself,” Leung saRW4axET$00FbKE&dXsFZ4C-7sIuVwY+#&TyJjp-v5CyPY%%9W9id, according to HKLGFF. "Love wins. Love will win again and again.”

On September 8, HKLGFF will host a discussion panel of the Asim#5+5UhPT85zOSzzjA7bneEegBY_+gPa4jPBuO(+hx4HH#n94ua Pacific Queer Film Festival Alliance members. Guests will travel from as far as Sri Lanka and Pakistan to attend.