Thailand is getting back to normal with the just-announced LGBTI+ Movie Night to be held March 24, in the wonderful gardens of the Embassy of the Netherlands on Wittayu Road in Bangkok (recently renamed Krungthep Manahakorn). The event is organized by the embassy in cooperation with Document Our History Now (www.documentourhistorynow.org)
The previous event was held on Valentine’s Day 2020, just before the Earth-shattering Covid lockdowns, and one documentary “Happy Ever After” took place in China, in the major Chinese City of Wuhan, which, pre-covid probably no one had ever heard of. The special guest that year was Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, a filmmaker and Thailand’s first transgender member of parliament
The Documentary Night at the Dutch embassy presents finished and in-the-works documentaries of LGTBI+ lives and stories, and includes entries from the Asia region probably not seen anywhere else. Unsuprisingly, given the venue, four of the movies are Netherlands productions, but the program includes short documentaries from Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar.
Here’s the program :
Love doesn’t Hurt (Netherlands, 1 min) by Dennis Lubbers. The ending of this video could be too disturbing for you!
Love Wins (Thailand, 14 min.) by Anna Lawattanatrakul. Next steps on Thailand’s road to marriage equality.
Resilient in a Crisis (Indonesia, 19 min.) by Ricky MF Meet Sanggar Seroja: a group of trans women living and working in Jakarta, mostly as sex worker, street performer, makeup artists/hair dressers, poets. See how they try to survive in the midst of the Covid-pandemic.
Bilal (Indonesia, 8 min.) by Fachri Al Jupri
Cycling Trip (the Netherlands 15 min.) by Sven Peetoom. Bike buddy road movie: colliding characters in search of adventure.
Girlsboysmix (Netherlands, 6 min.) by Lara Aets
Short documentary about an intersex child who wonders: where do I belong?
Fruity (Netherlands, 1 min) by Selwin Vervoort
A Blue Sky (Myanmar, 27 min.) by HeinZ
15 years old boy goes through a self-discovery journey at all-boys boarding school and braces himself to take a chance at love.
http://documentourhistorynow.org/all-stories/lgbti-documentary-night-bangkok-2022/.
Document Our History Now supports documentary markers, photographs, documentalist, and journalists in Southeast Asia in their effort to tell stories and document lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, individuals and events, along with their history and what they are striving for.
Due to Covid, seats are limited and bookings will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis. Free tickets to attend here: https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/lgbti-movie-night-tickets-291721495847
Review by Glenn John Once upon a loooong time ago, Glenn moved from NYC to Bangkok (pre-covid, the most-visited city on Earth - Forbes mag.et al) and suddenly he wants to let everyone know a bit more about Thailand (per capita, the queerest country on Earth - his stats) and maybe some of the LGBTQI+ happenings in the neighboring countries also.
