Time: 1L00-3:00 pm, Friday 28 February 2025
Place: Clive Granger A48, University of Nottingham University Park Campus
In recent years, more and more queer people choose to leave China due to a deteriorating environment for LGBTQIA+ existence within China. What do their lives in Europe and North America look like? What opportunities and challenges do they find in these new environments? We have invited Love Queer Cinema Week (aka Beijing Queer Film Festival) curator Jenny Man Wu to curate a series of five short films made by queer filmmakers living in the Chinese diaspora. Together these films tell stories of migration, displacement, queer resilience and hope.
The film screening will be an in-person event held in Nottingham. The curator will attend the Q&A online.
The Parisian in Bali Village
Director: Bingxing Cen | 15 min | 2023 | Dialogue: Mandarin Chinese, Sichuan dialect
Synopsis
Li Simiao, a girl who lives in Bali Village, Chengdu, China, has never travelled abroad. But she is convinced that she is a true Parisian at heart. And many others like her share the sense of “hometown disorder” …
Wegen Hegel
Director: Popo Fan | 15min | 2023 | Dialogue: Mandarin Chinese, German
Synopsis
“The real is rational, and the rational is real”, says German Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. But when the pandemic hits Germany, everything changes. Chinese student PING just started his philosophy studies and faces many obstacles: hostility, loneliness, and lockdown. On a dating app, he receives spicy photos from MAX, who proposes a “social distance hook-up”. Ping is excited and embarks on his adventure. Offered a mysterious drug, he is about to have sex when he suddenly notices a book by Hegel. It sucks him into a drug-induced reflection about free will and reality, which kills the vibe of the moment. He flees after an argument and loses himself in the drug experience. The next morning, he makes another unexpected discovery – and all that because of Hegel (Wegen Hegel).
Here, Hopefully
Director: Hao Zhou | 11min | 2022 | Dialogue: Mandarin Chinese, Hunan Dialect, English
Synopsis
Zee, a nonbinary aspiring nurse from China, strives to build a gender-affirming life in rural Iowa, US. After graduating from nursing school, they work tirelessly to pass their licensure exam in hopes of obtaining a work visa.
Frozen Out
Director Hao Zhou｜5min｜2021 | Dialogue Sichuanese
Synopsis
An émigré retreats to frozen prairies and swamps, hoping to find a meaningful story and escape the anxieties of dislocation. Delivered as a film-letter to the protagonist’s sister in rural China.
FLYING FISH
Director: Mengmeng Ming | 10min | 2024 | Dialogue: Mandarin Chinese
Synopsis
The film combines real family archives with fictional narratives to explore the complex journey of self-discovery and gender identity. I found many artistic photos from my childhood, which made me realize certain connections between photo studios and drag performances. In a fictional studio, I discovered a group of crocodile companions, where all the crocodiles could dance freely…
The film portrays the fluidity of memories and the boundless possibilities of fantasy. It also reflects on societal pressures and the performativity of gender.