TV & Movie / Aug. 13, 2020
Independent filmmaker Fan Popo is one of the most prominent contemporary Chinese gay directors. From dramas to documentaries, his films cover almost the entirety of the rainbow. Having always been an avid spokesperson for the gay community, he was even invited as a jury member for the Teddy Awards at Berlin Film Festival. Here’s GagaOOLala’s anthology of his 10 most iconic works. Some are eye-openers, while others are downright heart-warming. He even stars in one of them!
Floss
Ting is a young office worker living in Beijing. His new boyfriend Mark loves him dearly, but he finds it difficult to commit to the relationship as there is a secret that he finds difficult to share: he has a fetish for Mark’s teeth. With Mark’s increasingly active pursuit, Ting becomes increasingly confused. He wants to speak out, but could he?
Beer! Beer!
In the early morning following a wild party in Berlin, Tao, a Chinese guy, meets Sebastian, a local German. As they seem to get more and more intimate with each other, suddenly, a mattress changes everything... The director Fan Popo stars in this one.
The Drum Tower
An introverted senior school student and a transgender vintage shop-owner, two lonely souls are swimming in the ever-changing-city pool. Can they break down that mental wall and commence communication? Where are they heading to?
Chinese Closet
The majority of LGBT people in mainland China remain in the closet. Most of these closet doors are kept tightly shut by pressure from friends, family, and society itself. This documentary hopes to explore the experience of coming out in China through a series of interviews with out homosexuals.
Be a Woman
On Gonghe Road in Nanning, a city located in Southwestern China, there is a bar called Only-Love, where luxurious merry-making happens every evening. Gorgeous apparels, glittering stage lighting, tempting dancing...
Mama Rainbow
For Chinese parents, finding out that their kid is gay is often a tragedy, for homosexuality of their children unacceptable. However, a fresh rainbow wind has been blowing over the Chinese mainland in the past few years, as we see 6 mothers from all acorss China who talk open and freely about their experiences with their homosexual children. With their love, they are redefining the Chinese-style family bond.
Papa Rainbow
Four years after Mama Rainow, in China, most families have difficulties facing their lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) children. They have to contend with common social beliefs that homosexuality is shameful, abnormal, a perverted condition caused by deviant family relationships.
The VaChina Monologues
The Chinese Department of Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou) staged the Chinese debut of The Vagina Monologue in Dec. 2003. Since then, this feminist play, which came from the US and has been committed to the elimination of gender-based violence, had incited a vagina hurricane that blew all over mainland China.
New Beijing, New Marriage
Located south of the Tian’anmen Square and among the century-old old architecture, Qianmen bears silent witness to the history of the Beijing city. Originally a Western holiday, the Valentine’s Day has become a huge day for many Chinese young people. For the tens of millions of gays and lesbians in China who do not have rights to make their voices heard, what do the place and the day mean to them?
Pink Dads
Four Chinese fathers talk openly and freely about their experiences with their LGBT children. Speaking out against discrimination and stigma, they redefine what it means to protect a household. They fully embrace their kids for who they are, and become pioneer activists fighting for an equal and diverse society.
