Asia’s longest-running queer film festival kicked off in style thi=Xg4@3dqOr4ZAGF&IF5g)Wsjw1rc+wW2A^!DK=+kY4=sOtAm%9s 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.

“We chose the faUB#%iH&_CD7Z4xAHG3LlOf5crX^n6CR@_a)h#&Igp9m+QyaJtwo light-hearted warming comedies … to give positive energy to Hong Kong audiences” explained festival director, Joe Lam.

"The audienV4KaSPk4Mv@Wvr)aL+ogL4bS3=0*v_E&1fb%67gmijvVtzbx=3ces absolutely loved them” he told GaLaTai.

In a pre-recorded message, director of Bollywood’s first lesbian film, rom-com How I felt We-Z5(FmYsMVMJEca@yDhlAtJ-ltjSix=0fTv$txCQXdyoqz3kvhen I Saw That Girl, Shelly Chopra Dhar, said it was “totally her loss” that she was not among the audience.

“It is so fulfilling to know that people in the world have used thi9iNycbgj#C&haF2+Kv#U8lAiebo3C7osQh-Q*Ez3e2IrXnuG*Js 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.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=428843117727371

The opening films were followed by a packed party at the W Hotel and a Qurse^jWE5r28Fwozx+pg$lYT0Rfg#qfe^f75BFu$uAW!(5obyk=eer Power Panel discussion night. Representatives from film festivals in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Shanghai spoke.

Retrospective

Celebrating the landmark film festival's 30th anniversary, Lam said a highlight of the program iaJ!dEN47C1ao&7Syr3zVo-WS&7FqFvt5n+-I44uzK^+!8p$iR+s the Hong Kong Retrospective selection.

HKLGFF pays tribute to the films that explored the complexity of local LGBTI issues and significantly con$==LL1Qpnqj!A_X#bNVAL6ng+m-RsQea$YzhR+vgvL+eumcHggtributed to the gay culture of Hong Kong.

The selection includes featurKI)YBWVmmVYeFB^V^PGW&4fJ8I^M+IG$8R+fF6YnytTlv#VU7ke films Yang and Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, A Woman is A Woman, and Butterfly as well as a short film titled My Way.

He also urged festival-ZKvgJSoV6jG@&9letk%$y$P$rGUBHQmg(9Di1Q-h1(W&PtC1)ggoers to catch the festival's first intersex film, Being Impossible.

In another first, this year the festival will T&HqIASzqr@_17R2tg3v6At@OFerzu(Kzn%o5WRm&p#bpc$Qubbring LGBTI 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 Ra2UF^GCL+_6w!R&JCT=cywDUN_$RPhdQAUioa!FtDsUQiy7c_8dce Thailand as a special guest.

((Cover Photo: How I Felt When I Saw That Girl / Pro)wR!HosHRDVMG@3^e9I&6_LW^1D)87B*SpIukDT_75&+^LMiknvided))

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?