Macau will host from February 3 to 12 the first film festival dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community, but open to all, “even homophobes,” in a subtly conservative city, the organizer said.
The Macau International ‘Queer’ Film Festival (MIQFF) LGBTQIA+ “is all about rights, simple as that,” the director of the festival, organized by ‘Queer’ Vision and the Han-Ian Commune, told Lusa.
“Why does the topic of LGBTQIA+ [an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, ‘queer’, intersex, and asexual] have to be hidden or not mentioned altogether?” questioned Jay Sun.
The festival will screen 12 feature films, including “Will-o’-the-Wisp”, a musical by Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues, selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022.
Tickets for the surprise film, “Will You Look At Me,” a documentary by Chinese director Huang Shuli chosen for the critics’ week of the Cannes Film Festival 2022, are already sold out.
“Of course, we have a target, the LGBTQIA+ community, but we don’t want to limit anything because that’s what it means to be ‘queer.’ We welcome everyone, even homophobes,” Jay Sun stressed.
“In every country, there are groups like that, and in Macau too. But I don’t see them as my enemies. They are welcome to come and learn more, and maybe we can understand each other better,” said the 26-year-old.
“People in Macau are more subtle than in other cities or countries. They are conservative, but when they meet someone they don’t like, they don’t say anything in public either. It’s not like in Hong Kong or Taiwan, where people will be protesting on the streets,” he said.
Taiwan has been the only territory in Asia to recognize same-sex unions since 2019. Leong Chin-fai, a Macau resident, married a Taiwanese man in August 2021 in Taiwan after a legal battle.
In addition to the feature films, the festival will screen five short films, four of which are by Macau directors, including Tracy Choi Ian Sin’s “I’m Here”.
“It’s really important, especially for young people,” for the LGBTQIA+ community to be represented on screens, Choi told Lusa.
“When I was 17 or 18, it was hard to identify myself because, in most Asian films and TV shows, there is little talk about LGBTQIA+,” the director lamented.
Disclosing one’s sexual orientation “is very difficult here in Macao because not everyone has open-minded parents,” Jay Sun lamented.
Family pressure is even greater for homosexuals, said Tracy Choi. “In Chinese society, men have to have children to keep their family name, and if you’re not masculine enough, people will make fun of you,” he added.
“Nobody has to come out publicly and say they are lesbian, or gay, or bisexual, that’s up to them, and it’s nobody’s business,” Jay Sun stressed.
“The most important thing is to have confidence in ourselves, that we are beautiful and that nothing is wrong with us. That alone is enough for our festival, to remind people that being ‘queer’ is not a problem, not a sin,” he said.
With information from Notícias ao Minuto
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times