To celebrate Pride Month, CineCina is once again collaborating with CathayPlay to present a selection of outstanding Chinese queer shorts. Created in different backgrounds, they are mostly works by a new generation of filmmakers, many of them students. All these filmmakers tell unique queer stories with integrity and openness — a transgender who lives a double life, a hearing-impaired boy who loves dancing, a girl who wants to get rid of her girly name — full of beautiful characters, living with pride.
Lineups
Directed by Tan Wei Keong
5 minutes / 2017 / Mandarin / English subtitles
Festivals&Awards :
2017 Singapore International Film Festival, Best Singapore Short Film
2018 Outfest Los Angeles, Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize
Directed by Tung Wei Ye
18 minutes / 2019 / Cantonese & Mandarin / Chinese and English subtitles
In Taipei, 2013, a gay, interracial couple that just moved in together is forced to separate because one of them, a Malaysian, is diagnosed with HIV and faces deportation.
Festivals&Awards :
2020 Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
2021Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival
Directed by Zhang Hong-Jie
33 minutes / 2020 / Mandarin / Chinese and English subtitles
This is a documentary portraying Taiwan’s first-ever, most-prominent, and most outspoken gay activist, Chia-Wei Chi.
Festivals&Awards :
Taiwan International Queer Film Festival 2020
Beijing Queer Film Festival 2021
Directed by CHUNG Chun-Yu & Gao HONG
29 minutes / 2019 / Mandarin / Chinese and English subtitles
A girl called Zhang Ya-Ting wants to change her name. A boy called Hong Jia-Hao wants to end his relationship with his sex buddy. The young generation cries out in frustration in this era when sexuality and self-identity have become uncategorizable.
Festivals&Awards :
2020 Shanghai Queer Film Festival, Best Film & Best Actor
2019 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival
2020 Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
2021 Frameline – San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Directed by Yan-Ping WANG
25 minutes / 2020 / Mandarin / English subtitles
Every summer, Hsuan, Yei, and Chi jump into the pool together. Yei is always faster than Hsuan, but she doesn’t care about racing. All she wants is to stay with Chi, slowly, naturally, till they reach Taipei.
Festivals&Awards :
2021 Golden Harvest Awards
2021 Taiwan International Queer Film Festival
Directed by Li Ming
18 minutes / 2020 / Mandarin / Chinese and English subtitles
Lily is a transgender. He comes to Beijing with man’s appearance and works in a convenience store. When he returns home from work every day, he puts on girl’s outfit and keeps a hot relationship with A Ming through a voice chat app. The story unfolds over one night, when A Ming is desperate to see his beloved Lily, the girl who only exists in his fantasy, and comes to the convenience store. How will Lily react to this relationship?
Festivals&Awards :
2020 Taiwan International Queer Film Festival
Directed by Yiru CHEN
19 minutes / 2020 / Chinese sign language / Chinese and English subtitles
Contemporary Shanghai, summer. Xia Qing, a boy who has been wearing hearing aids due to hearing impairment, has a deep love for dancing. He gains so much joy just from copying Martha Graham’s hand gestures in a dance magazine. A kid with a precocious nature, he sometimes paints his pinky nail red just for that glimpse of beauty. Yet all these passionate pursuits are misunderstood and questioned by his single, deaf mother. Given the opportunity to audition for his favorite dance company once in a blue moon, he has no choice but to return to his body. He seeks his mother’s approval and longs to overcome this obscure self-identity crisis, through the silent language on his fingertips.
Festivals&Awards :
2020 Shanghai Queer Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize
2020 Reel Asian International Film Festival
2021 Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
2021 Queer East Film Festival