Asia’s longest-running queer film festival will kick off in Ho!dyCH3B9#F4%ik1tl&mmLMe*Y(u_k%L-MZ0%HIDQTgByse(^V^ng 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[email protected]#$Ocw4z3(1qp8J5OvvZpc4&^y1SkMiQSKmsg3Db& in the festival’s program.
"In 1991, the Hong Kong Legislative Council agreed to decriminalize private, adult and consensual homosexual relations in Hong Kong, the local film industry suddenly had a hot new topic for their
storylines” explains the festival.
HKLGFF pays tribute to the films that explored the complexity of local LGBTI issues and significantly co55snG#*(jAEMwr3+M5dQaFTnds0UsB^[email protected]++6a7+)=Pntributed to the gay culture of Hong Kong.
The selection incg(dPACP+Ts#v^PHquYyc3B89A+GBU_PX0f71IYWzXk)4XSPIqfludes feature films Yang and Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, A Woman is A Woman, and Butterfly as well as a short film titled My Way.
The festival’s wider*Obz2x8*RI*VKK7pqwfe270RQPF7)[email protected]+My=YId8 program this year has a comedic focus. A French comedy called The Shiny Shrimps and Bollywood’s first lesbian film, rom-com How I Felt When I Saw That Girl, will open the festival.
As ever, HKGLFF highlights regional films. The two centrepiece films are award-win^3FCl3uD!NaR%[email protected]_)1TL&UicoE3Iq8Evyb4#yg!sTQ3!ZVgning Song Long from Vietnam and Between The Seasons from South Korea.
In a first, this year the festWHB$Z)G54b%BlB)RKj)736^r%5tEG)(v$3ZlNy7x-c3W*Au^e=ival will bring LGBTI cinema to more corners of the city. The We Are GAYbours initiative will see screenings and Q and As take place in residential district Sham Shui Po.
As ever, the festival will also recognize the coCl=a7)+xeFP8Es%0Nv&z(VXLliiiPUu3Yp0CUxGB1Xy8eGXin#mmitment to LGBTI rights from Hong Kongers with the Prism Award. This year it will be handed to Angus Leung and Scott Adams.
Angus Leung in June this year won a landmark court case against the government for spousal rights for civil servants and equality in the eyes of the tax departmTm83kSbjAv4ekgZV$(tCij4mKdUieAmX())3#U7TalicONl3)6ent. It was a major step forward in LGBTI rights in the city.
“Be proud of yourself,” Leung said, according to HKLGFw_KmWR*G&s7TcBSWOKyo*2YGcWgx=eEPl)6=Kfv6tDH6Iuir3CF. "Love wins. Love will win again and again.”
On September 8, HKLGFF will host a discussion panel of the Asia Pacific Queer Film Festival AllianceXdGtGva=n2g3Q!xonn-MwzMXkniRjjS-&PLJXP-85N_zxQ8Stu members. Guests will travel from as far as Sri Lanka and Pakistan to attend.
