Asia’s longest-running queer film festival kicked off iniK*[email protected]%[email protected] 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.

“We chose the two light-hearted warming comedies … to give positive energy to Hong Kong audie*^%[email protected](Yn92KlPb7BJx^x050uhjK!xuYOq=FETtYRikQN8nces” explained festival director, Joe Lam.

"The audiences absolut[email protected]@[email protected]_4nVE561O2LL-9bg*89sIb)OO)[email protected][email protected]ely loved them” he told GaLaTai.

In a pre-recorded message, director of Bollywood’s first lesbian f[email protected]$onyIgImtsdvN5XbsVeiytaklz6wOq)NdJ(ilm, 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 fulfilling to know that people in the world have used this film as a tool to actually share who they are with their loved ones”, sM3P9(DJd7&oQ*K6$)@@[email protected]%0!yQC&0nWg#90L59C([email protected]he said in a pre-recorded video shown before the screening.

The opening films were followed by a packed party at the W Htb9p)@+w+%8hbq-_13aUhg&-r+Iy9l1(_j7&^jDhsljPR$AA-Potel and a Queer 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 highlighQTb1*O^H*ZmFds=vgXcZ!u6LBccFkwipDSu6vYK&=(RxD5ErjRt of the program is the Hong Kong Retrospective selection.

HKLGFF pays tribute to the films that explored the complexity of local[email protected]%Pg(*TAcnLa5K=Y5nhahPa1(n0JT2Wf*06ci%)Nh LGBTI issues and 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 Butterf(4X95UeprXGOyG3Ok6w1&yIzpPToedGYd2Hn3_ID6gMFaZvKEoly as well as a short film titled My Way.

He also urged festival-grGs&vYZ_j&2bLhORvAt3T9Ridj-Y$pQlFPQre5G0_0Kz#osydBoers to catch the festival's first intersex film, Being Impossible.

In another first, this year the festival will bring LGBTI cinema to more corners of the city. The We Are GAYbours initiative will see screenings and Q9RL8!fDPkN79w5*Bt!A+ugPi43QzHl422(6+gWI8$LlSx!sLKQ 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 Thail2yxPcIbdB&JjPBt4+$hG_nCzZg*Ce-kHA1#lc51rp4+VpbUIRYand as a special guest.

((Cover Photo: Still from [email protected]^1prkcTpzuP_3W5f7IB%QEXKIo&ofQ0lzLx&qr#f=uThe Shiny Shrimps / Provided))

GagaOOLala's 2021 original "Queer Up The Volume" series will be linking 10 different LGBTQ+ love stories together with 10 films and series, 10 songs, and 10 music videos. From the birth of love, the maturing, to the happy seeds of starting a family, a melody or a line of lyrics is bound to remind us of that very special one. With 10 renowned directors and 10 artists working together, "Queer Up The Volume" extends love by joining the power of music and film.🎬 https://bit.ly/3t015Kl

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