A scene in Finding Phong, an award-winning documentary feature to be screened as part of the Queer Forever programme. — Photo courtesy of the organiser |
HÀ NỘI — Queer Forever 2016, an intimate series of film screenings and discussions projecting voices from the LGBTIQ community, will take place in the capital city September 16-17.
This year’s programme is composed of short fiction films, documentaries, film sketches, and experimental abstractions from Việt Nam, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, China and Japan.
The filmmakers, including Lei Lei Aye from Myanmar (Soulmates), Hyoe Yamamoto from Japan (When I Become Silent) and Kassey Huang from Taiwan (The Window of Desire) will present their works and converse with visitors.
“I hope that the festival will be another occasion for us to gather, to watch and fall in love with film together, to discuss with filmmakers and among ourselves the images, sounds, and stories brimming with queer love,” said Nguyễn Quốc Thành, member of the organising board.
The films include Finding Phong, a feature-length documentary directed by Trần Phương Thảo and Swann Dubus, which follows Phong, a young transgender woman during her struggle to fulfill her dream to have a sex reassignment surgery. Excerpts from Phong’s video diary blend with Thảo and Dubus’s documentation of her encounters with her family, friends, colleagues and doctors – each must come to terms with her determination to reinvent herself. The film won the prestigious Nanook-Jean Rouch Grand Prix last year in France.
The screenings and discussions will take place at Nhà Sàn Collective, Hà Nội Creative City Building, 1 Lương Yên Street and the Goethe Institute, 54-56 Nguyễn Thái Học Street. — VNS