CINEMASIA PRESENTS ‘OUT & PROUD IN CHINA?’ AUGUST 3 DE BALIE IN AMSTERDAM

This Friday, CinemAsia presents ‘Out & Proud in China?’ during the Amsterdam Gay Pride festival – featuring the Chinese documentary “Our Story: 10-year ‘guerilla warfare’ of Beijing Queer Film Festival” followed by a discussion about LGBT life in Asia.

CinemAsia brings the diversity of Asian cinema to the attention of the Dutch audience and offers a media platform to discuss Asian topics on screen.

OUR STORY – 10-YEAR ‘GUERILLA WARFARE’ OF BEIJING QUEER FILM FESTIVAL (CHINA 2011)

Out & Proud in China? For ten years the Beijing Queer Film Festival has battled oppression and homophobia to fight for more visibility for gays and lesbian issues in China. The film documents this struggle and the ‘guerrilla’ tactics used by the festival’s organisers. Yang Yang, director of the film, has been executive director of the festival for 10 years, providing an essential space for the queer and allied communities of Beijing. The film will be screened in Chinese with English subtitles.

Children of Srikandi: The First Indonesian Docu about Queer Women

By: Yvette Benningshof

For the first time in the history of Indonesian cinema, queer female filmmakers are breaking the code of silence. Eight Indonesian women, all lesbian, had their coming out on the big screen, as they produced a documentary together about themselves: ‘Children of Srikandi’.

This is the first documentary about queer women in Indonesia; unique in this country with the largest Muslim population. The film is inspired by the mythological figure Srikandi from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In traditional Javanese shadow puppet theater (wayang kulit), Srikandi signifies a strong and brave character who is neither woman nor man. Srikandi is often depicted as a female warrior.