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PRESS
Frameline30’s Queer Asian Programming
a Multicultural Cinematic Treat
San Francisco, CA—Frameline, the world’s premier showcase for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cinema, proudly announces Frameline30, the 30th anniversary of its annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. This year’s Festival runs June 15-25 at the historic Castro Theatre, CinéArts@Empire, Roxie Film Center and the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco, as well as at Oakland’s Parkway Theater. The Festival includes the best new queer films from Asia and the Asian diaspora, as well as new queer films from Asian Americans.
Two powerful features from the Philippines and a related documentary add cultural depth to Frameline30. In director Brillante Mendoza’s debut film, The Masseur, massage parlor worker Iliac’s encounter with a trashy romance novel writer is followed by the funeral of his estranged father. The inter-cutting of explicit homosexual sex and funerary rites is enthralling and depicts the contradictions that influence the young masseur's life. Stray Cats, a first feature by director Ellen Ongekeko-Marfil, follows the parallel love lives of Marta and her gay friend Boyet, who writes romance novels inspired by Marta’s noncommittal boyfriend. Stray Cats is a daring, innovative comic-romance fantasy—a parody that depicts love, sex, romance and loneliness in a way never seen in Philippine cinema before. Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann’s documentary, Paper Dolls, follows a group of Philippine transsexuals now living in Tel-Aviv who are employed as caretakers for sick and elderly Jewish men. During their limited time-off the men appear as drag queens in the troupe Paper Dolls.
The Festival presents a range of Asian American films from musicals and comedies to coming-of-age stories and family dramas. Bam Bam and Celeste, written by and starring comedian Margeret Cho and directed by Lorene Machado (Notorious C.H.O. The Movie, Frameline26; Starcrossed, Frameline27; Revolution, Frameline28), is the story of two friends stuck in their Midwest hometown who make a break when they see a call for contestants for a reality-TV makeover show. Colma: The Musical, directed by Richard Wong with songs by H.P. Mendoza, portrays three teenagers from a town where the dead outnumber the living. Jeremy Stanford’s documentary Trantasia is a no-holds-barred behind-the-scenes look at the first-ever — World’s Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant — and the six provocative women who will finally realize their diva dreams! Screening right before Trantasia is One Night In Bangkok, a campy music video featuring the girls from Viva Tropicana Hawaii. Ned Farr’s The Gymnast stars South Korean actress and dancer Addie Yungmee as Serena in a steamy lesbian love story. First-time director Justin Lo’s The Conrad Boys tells the story of Charlie Conrad, a 19-year old who, after the sudden death of his single mother, sets aside his college
plans to raise his brother. Charlie secretly yearns for the freedom and romance associated with youth, which he gets when he meets the handsome drifter Jordan. Red Doors, by first-time director Georgia Lee, takes us into the endearing dysfunctional lives of the Wong family and stars Mia Riverton.
Films from India not only question sexual identity but also focus on activism and mainstream education. Shabnam Mousi, a feature by Yogesh Bhardwaj, is an action-packed Bollywood musical based on a true story about a eunuch who transcends societal oppression to become a successful politician. Alessandra Zeka’s documentary, Harsh Beauty, focuses on the lives of Jyoti and Usha, both of whom ran away to become eunuchs as children. Sachin Kundalkar’s short, The Bath, set in Mumbai where an estimated 10,000 men are employed as sex workers, begins to erase some of the stigma of male prostitution. A second feature from India/UK is Sridhar Rangayan’s (The Pink Mirror, Frameline27) Yours Emotionally, in which Ravi and Paul, two friends from Leicester, attend a gay party in a small Indian town; Ravi instantly falls for Mani, a dark and handsome local. Frameline30 also presents the first Bengali queer music video by the progressive rock band Cactus in The Pegasus, taking the issue of gay acceptance to the masses. The Pegasus and The Bath both play as part of the shorts program Wordly Affairs, along with Crimson Mark, a royal romance set in South Korea during the Chosun Dynasty; Still from Indonesia, a young man’s journey to self-discovery, love and reconnection; and in Two Nights, a young Chinese man in Australia has sexual encounters with two very different individuals.
Features and short films from Southeast Asia add to the cultural diversity of the Festival. Last Second is Nanang Istiabudi’s debut film that offers a strong anti-drug message. This first lesbian feature from Indonesia is a coming-of-age story about teenagers whose search for love is complicated by violence in the home, Gen-X angst, loneliness and the ravages of opting for escape through drugs.
From Hong Kong and Canada, Simon Chung’s Innocent is the story of a vulnerable teen’s approach to the brink of adulthood. Innocent explores the story of Eric, a 17-year-old who reluctantly migrates with his parents from Hong Kong to Toronto. Director Navarutt Roongaroon’s Room Number 3 examines the real meaning of love and Thai society’s view of homosexuality in the program Family Ties.
Women filmmakers dominate the selection of Asian and Asian American shorts at Frameline30. Inciting Hope—Queer Women of Color Shorts highlights new films from women-of-color filmmakers from the Bay Area. This program features two shorts including Carolin Le’s Things I’ll Never Say, which captures the spark of desire that transforms the friendships and yearnings of three Asian teenagers, and Vanda Chong’s Tuberose, in which an Asian butch sets her own passion on the back burner to live vicariously through her friend’s romantic encounters. In Mishann Lau’s short, You’re Dead After School, a young misfit gets her revenge on a schoolyard bully, and the Shaolin Sisters teach each other a thing or two about fighting over father’s lipstick. Erica Cho’s School Boy Art follows a cute graffiti-sketching boy as he tries to get into art school. C. Begien’s experimental film Relative Distance juxtaposes an SF dyke with her family in the program Emerging Voices. Jen Kao’s Outside takes place in a post-apocalyptic underground society in which one young woman confronts her fears of the unknown when she makes contact with an outsider. Transitions, by Vnai Tachavirat and Al Kakaye, is about the dynamics of gender and includes interviews with transgender women from the Tenderloin.
Audiences who appreciate Asian culture have plenty to feast on in this year’s Festival with its copious depictions by and/or about Asian LGBT culture and communities—a celebrated part of the Bay Area’s remarkable diversity.
Frameline30: the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, screening June 15–25 at the Castro Theatre (429 Castro Street), CinéArts@Empire (85 West Portal Avenue), Roxie Film Center (3117 16th Street), Victoria Theatre (2961 16th Street) in San Francisco and the Parkway Theater (1834 Park Blvd.) in Oakland.
Advance tickets will be available at the Festival Ticket Outlet located at 474 Castro Street in San Francisco. The Ticket Outlet will be open for Frameline Members only from May 26th through June 1st. General public ticket sales begin on June 2nd. Tickets may also be purchased by phone (925.866.9559), fax (925.866.9597), or mail (Frameline30, P.O. Box 2229, Danville, CA 94526-7229). For more information on the Festival and how to purchase tickets call the 24-hour hotline at 925.866.9559 or visit http://www.frameline.org/festival.
The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival is presented by Frameline, a nonprofit LGBT organization whose mission is to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts.
Media contact:
Seema Arora
seema@frameline.org
415.703.8650 x323 |
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