The UK’s excellent Queer East Film Festival kicks off again next week. The main festival runs from 18 – 30th April across eight venues in London before a nationwide tour from September to November across 10 cities. The exciting line-up combines contemporary feature films, documentaries, short films, virtual reality and dance productions. 50 films from 17 Asian and South East Asian countries and beyond will be shown, including a Focus Korea section highlighting 15 queer films from Korea spanning the 1960s to the present day.
Queer East 2023 begins on 18th April at the BFI Southbank with the UK Premiere of the high-camp comedy I Love You, Beksman (Philippines 2022). This warm-hearted comedy follows glamorous make-up artist and fashion designer Dali, whom everyone assumes to be gay. When he falls for beauty pageant queen Angel, he is forced to come out as straight, but nobody believes him, not even Angel! Sounds like lots of fun.
The closing night film is at the Barbican Cinema on 30th April with the UK Premiere of Home Ground (South Korea 2022), a moving documentary about South Korea’s first lesbian bar, Lesvos. Lesvos is a charismatic 66-year-old gender queer bar-owner activist who identifies as both a lesbian and a trans man. They set up Lesvos in 1999 and this film documents its history in the context of South Korea’s lesbian scene. The film combines interviews with her, and her customers, archive footage including a profile of Chanel, Seoul’s first lesbian bar in the 1970s, and a great soundtrack to give a fascinating insight into Seoul’s lesbian and trans man scene. Highly recommended. 9/10
Other festival highlights include:
Bad Women of China (China 2022)
A fascinating documentary by acclaimed queer filmmaker and activist He Xiaopei who explores the lives of three generations of Chinese women – her mother, herself and her daughter. The documentary covers the period from 1926 to the present day and is a superb insight into the strength and resilience of Chinese women as they manage their sexuality, careers, relationships, hopes and desires through decades of political and social change. 8/10
About Us But Not About Us (Philippines 2022)
A tense and claustrophobic mystery in which literature student Lance (Elijah Canlas) meets his handsome university professor Eric (Romnick Sarmenta) for dinner. But as disturbing revelations about the past between the men and Eric’s partner Marcus begin to emerge, the evening evolves into an intriguing, vicious battle of wills. A clever, original film. 8/10
Lotus Sports Club (Cambodia/Netherlands 2022
This is an inspiring coming-of-age documentary about a football team in Cambodia. Trans man Pa Vann runs the Lotus Sports Club team, half of whom are queer women, trans men and non-binary/gender fluid players, the other half are cis women. The film follows the lives of Pa and Leak and Amas, two players who are at the beginning of their transitioning journey to men. Many of the squad live with patriarch Pa and his girlfriend and their coterie of random animals. Despite their poverty, and some discrimination, theirs is a thriving community. He teaches them woodworking skills as well as football and sets them up for life in the real world. A heart-warming documentary with a great soundtrack. 8/10
This is the story of a fierce transgender dancer on the Seoul nightclub scene, who is forced to return to her rural hometown following the death of her father. There, she reconnects with her Buddhist heritage and has to perform a traditional drum dance in order to qualify for his inheritance. 7/10
April 18 - 30 Check out the rest of the schedule at www.Queereast.org.uk
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
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