Queer Asian World Cinema

It’s a time capsule of queerness situated within urban modern Vietnam, as queer women encounter each other in passing. It’s the specific queer experience of what happens to a young Catholic schoolgirl with a crush on a nun in the rural Philippines where there is no GSA network. It’s the conflict between a middle-class Bangladeshi father and his outspoken, independent daughter, as it flushes out patriarchy, class, and gendered expectations. It’s the coming of age for a queer Vietnamese teenage girl coming out to her mother amidst tears and eventual calm.

All films are subtitled for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and audio described for Blind and Low Vision communities.

Online Screening

Friday, May 23 – Sunday, June 1, catch the full lineup of Queer Asian World Cinema online.

In-Person Screening

Saturday, May 31, join QWOCMAP and CCC for the screening and a thoughtful post-screening conversation about the ways that we celebrate our queer identities and navigate within an Asian cultural context.
NOTE: Event and waitlist at capacity, you are welcome to show up at the venue on the day of, in case of no-shows.

Saigon Kiss by Hồng Anh Nguyễn (22 mins, 2024, Vietnam)
On the loud streets of Saigon, a chance encounter unfolds between two queer Vietnamese women.
Mo roams through the rush hour traffic to avoid an unwanted phone call. When she meets Vicky by the side of the street with her broken motorbike, a visceral chance encounter unfolds between the two young queer women on the loud streets of Saigon.
Filmmaker Bio: Hồng Anh Nguyễn is a queer German Vietnamese writer, director, and editor currently based in Frankfurt am Main and Ho Chi Minh City. Her short film SAIGON KISS premiered at the Max Ophüls Film Festival and went on to receive a Special Mention Award by the Queer Jury in Clermont-Ferrand. Recently, Hồng Anh directed documentaries for EST Eastern Standard Times, highlighting the voices of modern Vietnamese women. Her work has been funded by British Council Vietnam, Goethe Institute and the Asia-Europe Foundation. She is a recipient of the STEP writers’ stipend from Hessen Film & Media and a fellow of the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab.

A Catholic Schoolgirl by Myra Angeline Soriaso (18 mins, 2023, Philippines)
A Filipina student at an all-girls Catholic school develops a crush on a nun who will soon be moved to a faraway province.
This is the first time KAYA FUENTES experienced falling in love. As one of the finest students of an all-girls Catholic school, she is ungodly to develop a crush on SISTER AGNES. Now more than ever, Kaya feels the need to confess before Sister Agnes leaves.
Filmmaker Bio: Myra is a 22-year old student filmmaker who found her knack for storytelling after discovering Cinematheque Centre Iloilo in August 2018. In 2021, her first short documentary Panambi, co-created with her besties Jane and Katya, premiered internationally at the prestigious Ji.hlava International Film Festival. Now, she will debut as a fiction filmmaker in this year’s QCShorts with A Catholic Schoolgirl, which is also the recipient of Globe Prepaid’s GoWATCH Film Lab seed grant. But most importantly, she co-parents a cute cat named Charlie.

Kraati | Transition by Dibarah Mahboob (14 mins, 2024, Bangladesh)
A South Asian upper-middle-class daughter and her resilient house help navigate patriarchal norms and share struggles for autonomy and respect.
In the clash between modernity and tradition, parallel lives of a daughter and her father as she navigates patriarchal norms.
Filmmaker Bio: Dibarah is a researcher, feminist filmmaker, artist and muralist based in Dhaka currently. A Chevening Fellow, she has a postgraduate degree in Visual Anthropology and is the first Bangladeshi Ambassador of the Fearless Collective, an international feminist organization for arts-based community narrative retelling. Dibarah aspires to explore more authentic stories through exploring the “female gaze”.

Mom, I just broke up with a girl by Bùi Phương Thảo (28 mins, 2023, Vietnam)
A Vietnamese person comes out to her mother, amidst cultural constraints, her mother’s tears of despair, and her own tangled thoughts and emotions.
Among cultural constraints, Nhật (17) has to find a way out.
Filmmaker Bio: Bùi Tháo graduated from Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema in 2023, majoring in Film Directing, with the short film ‘Mom, I just broke up with a girl’. She received a Certificate of Merit at the Golden Kite Awards 2023 of the Vietnamese Cinema Association and was one of the five films selected for the S-Express Vietnam 2024 program. She is the founder and director of Cinéus, a creative production house based in Hanoi.

QWOCMAP’s CURATORIAL PROCESS

This year, QWOCMAP received hundreds of film submissions for our 21^st annual Film Festival. We were struck by the burgeoning of incredible films about LBTQIA+ communities emerging from Asia.

These films are fresh, exciting, and rare.

It’s noteworthy when queer & trans Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander films are released in the U.S. Especially as our communities and our creative expression as filmmakers are targeted by racism and homophobia, and misogyny and transphobia. For LBTQIA+ Asian filmmakers, the barriers to making a film are nearly insurmountable.

This Queer Asian World Cinema screening powerfully places queer stories in their cultural context in Asia. Not under an U.S. or Western umbrella. Or the largely white LGBTQIA+ umbrella.

Queer Asian World Cinema stories firmly place queerness not only in modern society in Asia, but within our cultures, traditions, and histories. They frame the power of LBTQIA+ communities at the intersection of Asian Pacific Islander cultures, identities, and resistance.

PARTNERS

Chinese Culture Center (CCC), our long-time Beloved Community Partner, has generously agreed to co-host this satellite screening in-person at their Chinatown gallery.

Close out Chinatown Pride, Bay Area QTAPI week, AANHPI heritage month with us!