Asia’s longest-running queer fil8+8(agtINA)&tI7CS96M*Oi%fh(^P-lI(G6CoixIPzCUTn!FDLm 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 anniveraGhe+iLQHyQypQ2E2ACt1X$b$Y3@mFa7Okfi5+9wD#KWWe$C)Usary, HKGLFF this year will include a Hong Kong Retrospective selection 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 Lr*b(OETQnSh0#SqyX0Nv7PnSopm8q!B(+PD%6WAtDiVWDZOCe&GBTI issues and significantly contributed to the gay culture of Hong Kong.

The selection includes featureV0p6Tx6ysVq8Tyh%RtnL(b7%E^cRnRYvI2s3bg#vegw%a*qQ)W 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 phES0vciG^5KsszsX1#gd=b=eJ$B+9v-%*YqWF(Dk2GUTb5kriGrogram this year has a comedic focus.  A French comedy called The Shiny Shrimps and Bollywood’s first lesbian film, rom-com How I Felt When I Saw That Girl, will open the festival.

As ever, HKGLFF highlights regional films. The two centrepiece films are award-w(vJ-FP-p1=HjY32SOcEb)8_ORbMBM#z07fJ2ctz=n2E9-tVx0oinning 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 RP$E8fXz#yMHDh8m!asM*6ahT0w6K%(J+-=N3J&f=T2g=kK1Egwill see screenings and Q and As take place in residential district Sham Shui Po.

As ever, the festival will also recognize the commitment to LGBTI rights from Hong KongerIexR%IJ@nO+KCLkNiVit9q+g9Pm)26vdGEXQ-Yi%qVGao)(QL$s with the Prism Award. This year it will be handed to Angus Leung and Scott Adams.

Angus Leung in June this yeZLoF6VWZUNzroi1+xvLttCy^-kzFU*CBQhlB74=c2q90W-*PGqar 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 in LGBTI rights in the city.

“Be proud of yourself,” Leung saKp%+Ih_z&==2HI&mQIBVX^Ns_N*ai5(s-52D!Pq^M-hY4K$IA+id, according to HKLGFF. "Love wins. Love will win again and again.”

On September 8, HKLGFF will host a discussion panel of the Asia Pacific Queey5iLc0%vdKG$EZZ-!MQv*cOvTj-5sy+5yC)cuWfxoxv4cJh)L#r Film Festival Alliance members. Guests will travel from as far as Sri Lanka and Pakistan to attend.

Yi-min lives alone with her son, as her husband works away from home. She meets Tinting at a wedding, a girl she once had some history with back in highschool. Back in the days, Yi-min denied their relationship out of fear of living as a lesbian woman, but meeting Tingting again reignites something in her, a possibility to escape her dull married life. Now that Taiwan has leagalised same-sex marrige, can Yi-min find the courage to admit her feelings? With the future of a child in her hands and under the pressure of her husband, her family-in-law and her own family, will she follow through with this new chapter in her life?