Queer East Film Festival is coming to eight venues in London from the 18th to 29th May 2022, featuring over 50 films from over 17 countries in East and Southeast Asia. In addition to Taiwan’s newly-restored classic melodrama GIRL’S SCHOOL and the contemporary short films HIDDEN and ENCORE MARTHA, the festival will also bring VR content for the first time in the form of video artist Chou Tung-yen's work IN THE MIST. Encapsulating a diverse range of queer experiences, from the repression of decades past to contemporary issues in LGBTQ+ culture, Taiwan’s offerings at Queer East 2022 speak to the rich complexities of queer life in East Asia.
IN THE MIST is the first VR work by Taiwanese director and multimedia art director of Very Theatre, CHOU Tung-yen, and was selected for the “Special Event: Out of Competition” VR section of the Venice Film Festival 2021. From 20th to 24th May, audiences will be invited to experience the foggily erotic ambience of a gay sauna, drenched in neon light, steam, and male desire.
Filmed in 1982 at the National Pingtung Girls' High School, GIRL’S SCHOOL is part of LEE Mi Mi's trilogy of melodramatic films about urban women in Taiwan in the 1980s. A post-screening panel discussion will be held with Wang Chun-chi, Executive Director of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI).
The festival will also feature short films by emerging Taiwanese directors, KUO Hsuan-Chi’s HIDDEN and Natasha K. Song’s ENCORE MARTHA, which touch on less familiar aspects of queer life. Exploring issues of teenage gender identity and queerness in old age respectively, these shorts speak to the diverse plethora of emerging voices in Taiwanese queer cinema.
In addition to physical screenings with the BFI, the Festival will also collaborate with the Centre's own online streaming platform, BFI Player, to present 10 selected Asian short films for a year-long screening from May 2022. The programme will be announced by the organisers in due course.
Since its inception in 2020, the festival has been well received by audiences and professionals in the UK. In addition to Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, the festival continues to receive support from the British Film Institute, Arts Council England and other professional film organisations. The festival has received over 10,000 viewers in total. After the first festival’s focus on Taiwan and the second’s focus on Taiwan + Japan, this year's festival will turn towards Thailand, with selected works of queer Thai cinema screened at the Barbican Centre, BFI Southbank, Genesis Cinema and The Horse Hospital, a leading independent art space in London. Following the London festival, a UK-wide tour will take place from August to December.
For more information: https://queereast.org.uk/
Taiwan’s works in Queer East 2022:
●VR Cinematic Experience: IN THE MIST/Directed by Chou Tung-Yen
Venue: The Horse Hospital
Time: 20 May - 24 May (multiple screenings daily)
●GIRL’S SCHOOL (1982) / Directed by Li Mi-Mi
Venue; BFI Southbank
Time: 6:10pm, 24 May, Tuesday
●HIDDEN (2021)/Directed by Kuo Hsuan-Chi
Venue; Genesis Cinema
Time: 9:00pm, 21 May, Saturday
●ENCORE MARTHA (2021) / Directed by Natasha K. Sung
Venue; Genesis Cinema
Time: 8:55pm, 26 May, Thursday
IN THE MIST / Directed by Chou Tung-Yen
GIRL’S SCHOOL (1982) / Directed by Li Mi-Mi
ENCORE MARTHA (2021) / Directed by Natasha K. Sung
