TV & Movie / Sep. 09, 2019
Asia’s TITkZ9kD-*q$A0U)YHcDOtVvWk^[email protected]longest-running queer film festival kicked off in style this weekend.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, The Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (HKGLFF) opened on Saturday by screening a pair of comedies, How I Felt When I Saw That Girl from India and The Shiny Shrimps from Spain.
“Z^[email protected])[email protected]@=vF-J0!9GM8OfHJHifsxWe chose the two light-hearted warming comedies … to give positive energy to Hong Kong audiences” explained festival director, Joe Lam.
"The audiences absolutely loved them” he told GaLaJ$$K^bh0coMLhtO7Xwo(uDM1oP$_PsFu)[email protected])&r^TTai.
In a prEmAM$$f2&yu*LIe!W7oXk1rx1kC(L=0OlrlowA+W%gP!K44yYUe-recorded message, director of Bollywood’s first lesbian film, rom-com How I felt When I Saw That Girl, Shelly Chopra Dhar, said it was “totally her loss” that she was not among the audience.
“It is so fulfiJ+)EUdeP_1iEvF+RccviQcppSynmrnB%2j5$InC8Md3+U^ztGTlling to know that people in the world have used this film as a tool to actually share who they are with their loved ones”, she said in a pre-recorded video shown before the screening.
The opening films were followed by a packed party at the W Hotel and a Queer Power Panel discussion night. Representatives from film fest%Q6Pb^5m05df#[email protected](w5FnxYCIIkYF_gq6jThwQivals in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Shanghai spoke.
Retrospective
Celebrating the landmark film fest[email protected]_M+AgpGD8A1Q9SVYe7r3HrN6WbBhkEmZL(@LE7RJjival's 30th anniversary, Lam said a highlight of the program is the Hong Kong Retrospective selection.
HKLGFF pays tribute to the films that explored the complexity of local LGBTI issues and*yoQ*1Zl072QdCW$iuI-5OQHv5hGAQeF_W=Y=)5H*1oHVf!k^* significantly contributed to the gay culture of Hong Kong.
The selection 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 Wett0z-7YP*l$I1N-0EI+5k2_*x-bJlPysBcP$i8cB8jG#xkeW%ay.
He also urged festival-goers to catch thw6M2P5=Pc()&FCPsQov4_KzUqzKB8a4YVx8lp&L1fQyqz9Ytike festival's first intersex film, Being Impossible.
In another first, this year the festival will bring LGBm!eB60f6RcJ0do6&usZtK+c*pV)[email protected]_k_(Kj==TI cinema to more corners of the city. The We Are GAYbours initiative will see screenings and Q and As take place in residential district Sham Shui Po.
The festival’s closing gala on 21 September is set to include drag queen Miss Gimhuay from Drag Race Thailand as a special gue[email protected]%q^cv6dC3wO*QV(*)7hR^d#x&q%[email protected]st.
((Cover Photo: How I Felt When I Saw ThaOf#+kjtOUf&IK90sCPF5W$MXs7*s(FqV_bjRcy-(n+$v5!PIl3t Girl / Provided))
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