Source: Autostraddle
By Spectra Speaks
My
cargo shorts and graphic tees weren't exactly what my mother had in
mind when she envisioned showing off her daughter who'd "just returned
from America with an MIT degree!" to her friends at church.
The prodigal daughter, I'd returned home to Nigeria for my high school bestie's wedding.
We hadn't seen each other in five years; during that time I'd not only
come out as queer, but founded an organization for immigrant and/or
queer women of color (QWOC+ Boston),
cut my hair into a frohawk, and started dressing as a boy. I'd pretty
much gone from a lip-gloss-wearing straight girl to the gayest person
ever, but nobody had witnessed the transition, not even my friend who
was getting married. I hadn't reached out to her for fear that I
wouldn't be able to lie about who I was, and that soon after she'd tell
her mom, who would tell other moms, and eventually the rest of Lagos
where my parents lived, forcing my mother to endure becoming the center
of gossip and ostracizing her from the very social networks she needed
to survive as an aging entrepreneur. In order to make ends meet, my
mother relied heavily on referrals from her religious community about
various contract jobs -- event planning, hotel management etc; the last
thing she needed was a taboo subject like "lesbianism" turning off
potential clients.
Needless to say, I hesitated when my
friend invited me to be part of her bridal train, but I couldn't refuse
an invitation to be part of my girl's wedding, even if it meant wearing a
bridesmaid dress. I tried to get out of it but she firmly
insisted that the dress wasn't up for negotiation. "Well, what then if
you don't wear a dress?" she'd asked laughing, "So, you're going to wear
a suit and stand with the boys?" It hurt my feelings, but I laughed
along with her and retorted, "Obviously not. That would be ridiculous."
That was just the beginning.
I spent the entire two weeks
of my first visit home since my queer transformation absorbing my
mother's daily jabs at my clothing (and eventually, anything I said):
"So you're earning all this money and can't even afford some nice
tops?", "You really should dress your age", "What, you think you're a
boy now?" Gender binaries. If there was ever a place for them to thrive
unchecked, it would be Lagos, Nigeria, a place where being gay is not just viewed as a choice, but a crime,
and -- pending the new anti-LGBT bill being deliberated -- holding
hands with your best friend or choosing same-sex roommates could be made
punishable for up to 14 years in prison.
But while I was plenty aware of the political debate around my identity
as a queer African, I couldn't have cared less about the law; I was
still trying to survive within the confines of my own home.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Video: I Am Alike: A Nigerian Boi's Reflection on 'Pariah'
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Video: LGBT Jamaican stories
Until We Have Faces Teaser 1 with Intro from Traveling Muse on Vimeo.
The Team is currently fund-raising for post-production expenses, more info can be found at: http://indiegogo.com/untilwehavefaces
Friday, 2 December 2011
Video: New doco on trans Mexican asylum seekers in the US
Stigmatized by religious and patriarchal powers within their community, transsexuals in Mexico find acceptance elusive and jobs nonexistent. Francis Murillo, Brenda Gonzalez, and Abigail Madariaga – the three women who let us into their lives for Crossing Over – have been denied work because of their refusal to hide who they are. They have been sexually abused by police, neighbors, and by their own family members.
It’s difficult enough for undocumented immigrants to find safe work and a living wage once they arrive in the United States – but the transsexual men and women among them have an even harder time. Many resort to working in the sex industry, where their chances of being exposed to HIV and developing drug addictions greatly increase. Abigail became addicted to drugs while working as a prostitute, and Brenda contracted HIV. Both women have been more successful finding treatment since being granted political asylum in 2008.
Francis, Brenda and Abigail now have safe, stable jobs. Abigail is a dancer, Quinceañera planner, and student. She intends to become a lawyer to fight for transsexual rights. Brenda works at Bienestar, an organization that provides support and education to marginalized Latino communities in Los Angeles. There, she leads HIV education classes and support groups, and spreads awareness about Bienestar’s resources. Francis is a housecleaner and aid to a thirty-year old autistic woman.
Francis has yet to receive asylum. Her final hearing is scheduled for February 13, 2012, and will determine whether or not she is eligible to stay in the United States. If she is denied, she will be deported and sent back to Mexico.
Director Isabel Castro has started a Kickstarter page to raise money to finish her project. She is trying to raise $4,000 in 40 days to help pay for a crew, travel and equipment to shoot a documentary about 45 minutes long.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Video: New Turkish film shatters taboos
A new Turkish film loosely based on the life of murdered Turkish gay activist Ahmet Yıldız is winning awards and opening worldwide in January.
“Zenne” (Zenne Dancer, or "dancing man, man dancer" in Turkish) won five Golden Oranges at the Golden Orange Film Festival, Turkey’s most prestigious film event. It is co-directed by M. Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay.
Yıldız was shot on leaving a Istanbul cafe in 2008. He tried to flee in a car but it crashed and he died. It is believed that he was a victim of a so-called 'honour' killing, gunned down by his father.
Yıldız had gone to police after being threatened by his family but the case was dropped. No one has been arrested for his murder.
A friend of Yildiz told the Independent:
"He could have hidden who he was, but he wanted to live honestly. When the death threats started, his boyfriend tried to persuade him to get out of Turkey. But he stayed. He was too brave. He was too open."Turkey has a history of honour killings. A 2008 survey estimated that one person every week dies in Istanbul as a result of honour killings.
In the film, Yıldız is one of three friends. The others are Can, a belly dancer and openly gay man who is protected by his family, and Daniel, a German photojournalist who provides an outsider's perspective on Turkish attitudes to homosexuality.
Says newspaper Hürriyet:
“Zenne” aims straight at the heart of patriarchy coming in all shapes and sizes, from state-induced laws, to the treatment of gay men in the military and to hate crimes. The film comes with a twist on the prevailing honor killings that have taken and continue to take the lives of many women.
The twist is why “Zenne’s” Golden Orange success and its erstwhile inclusion in a film festival in eastern Turkey mean something a whole lot more. The Malatya International Film Festival had invited “Zenne” to be one of the eight films to be included in its national competition.
However Alper and Binay say that, uniquely, their film was asked to provide a permit from the Culture and Tourism Ministry for the Malatya festival. “Are disguised obstacles being placed in front of ‘Zenne’?” they said. The film ended up not being shown.
Censorship, particularly online censorship, is a source of growing concern in Turkey. There have also been thwarted attempts to close LGBT organisations by bureaucrats.
The film covers how gay men in Turkey, to avoid the draft, are asked to provide photographic or video evidence. Der Spiegel reported last year that the Turkish armed forces had “the world’s greatest porno archive” because of its policy.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International issued the report 'Not an illness nor a crime': Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Turkey demand equality. It said that:
“In cases of violence within the family, protection mechanisms are not available for many individuals due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. It was frequently reported by activists that transgender women and men, gay men, but most frequently lesbian and bisexual women were subjected to various forms of violence within the family.”
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Video: 365 without 377
Imposed under the British colonial rule in 1860, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalised any sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex, stigmatizing them as 'against the order of nature'. On 2 July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgment scrapping this clause, thus fulfilling the most basic demand of the Indian LGBTQ community, which had been fighting this law for the past 10 years.
Three characters, Beena, Pallav and Abheena travel through the city of Bombay heading to the celebrations for the first anniversary of the historic verdict. '365 without 377' is the story of their journey towards freedom.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Iran's First GAY Movie?
By Paul Canning
Does this look GAY to you?
No? Well according to an Iranian clergyman is fair screams GAY (as in two men doing the wild thing together).
"Shish va Pish" is a new comedy featuring two top-selling Iranian actors and it has caused widespread controversy.
It's about two young male friends who want to strike it rich through 'wild' - and illegal - activities, like 'western-style' parties involving alcohol. All very taboo in Iran. Although the two actors are introduced as friends - and not gay partners - in the movie, their body gestures, show of emotions for each other, and constant physical contact have been interpreted by some of the audience as two men in a GAY relationship.
The stars are the extremely popular actors Mohammad Reza Golzar and Amin Hayati.
Well one conservative and highly influential clergyman, Ayatollah Alam ol-Hoda, in his review of the movie condemned it for "promoting Hollywood-style homosexuality".
During the Friday Prayer Imam in the holy city of Mashhad in Eastern Iran, he dedicated his Eid Praying service - which marks the end of the Hajj Pilgrimage - to the subject of promotion of cultural corruption in the society. In his sermon, he sharply criticized government officials for even licensing the movie, which, in his view, is part of a US conspiracy to undermine the morale of the Muslim society and promote homosexuality through laughter. Though he said "We are not opposed to the laughter and joy".
HT: Hossein Alizadeh
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Video: Iraq's Unwanted People
Iraq's Unwanted People from Bradley Secker on Vimeo.
Bradley Secker, a U.K based photojournalist, spent two months living in Damascus, Syria in autumn 2010. He spent his time locating LGBT individuals that had fled Iraq in fear of being persecuted because of their sexuality. Gaining the trust of these individuals meant Bradley could see inside the closed diaspora of Iraqi LGBT refugees first hand. His primary aim was to create a photo essay with written, first hand testimonies.
On return to the U.K, Bradley started work on ‘Iraq’s unwanted people’, a short documentary highlighting the problems faced by Iraqi LGBT individuals. The film shows two personal accounts of men living in fear as refugees in Syria. Through photos, interviews and moving image, the film hopes to pose the question as to how, and why, such acts of violence and brutality can be overlooked in a new ‘free’ Iraq.
Film edited and produced by Spindle Films
For more information visit bradleysecker.com
Video: New film makes light of Serbia's Gay Parade
By Paul Canning
A bizarre new comedy has just hit the screens in Serbia. 'Parade the movie' is about the struggle of a group of activists to stage a Gay Pride Parade in Belgrade.
The film, by Srđan Dragojević, centres on a group of activists who have - like the real life activists - been refused police protection. But in the film the group then decides to hire some war criminals to protect them at the parade instead.
The actual Belgrade Pride Parade was banned last month following threats of mass violent counter-demonstrations organized by nationalists and fanatical Christian Orthodox supporters. Observers say that the ban was about politics and upcoming elections.
Dragojević, says he first thought of this subject for a film in 2001 while he watched the footage of the violent scenes at the first attempted Gay Pride Parade in Belgrade.
Dragojevic previously made the award-winning film "Lepa Sela Lepo Gore" ("Pretty Village, Pretty Flame") set in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
The main characters are Mirko (Goran Jevtić), a struggling theater director who mostly makes a living by planning and organizing kitschy wedding ceremonies on the side, and his love struck boyfriend Radmilo (Miloš Samolov). One of Mirko's clients - ditzy trophy girl Biserka (Hristina Popović) - introduces them to her fiance Limun (Nikola Kojo), a Serbian veteran of the Yugoslav Wars who operates a bodyguard agency whose clients are mostly controversial nouveau riche businessmen and female turbo-folk singers. Radmilo gets an idea to hire Limun to provide security services for their gay parade, however, macho and staunchly traditional Limun wants no part of it and kicks Radmilo out under threat of violence. This infuriates Biserka who is ready to leave him over the issue.
In order to appease his girlfriend, Limun agrees to do the job. However, in order to keep his reputation he decides not to use his regular security associates, but instead goes on the road with Radmilo across former Yugoslavia to hire his former war adversaries from the opposite sides with whom he kept in contact through various criminal activities since the war ended.
A gay reviewer on IMDB wrote:
Blic's Milan Vlajčić compared the film with with Mel Brooks' "The Producers".
Politika's Dubravka Lakić said that, by "employing shallow, occasionally lowbrow humour delivered through effective jokes and quick yucks", Dragojević made a "thoroughly watchable, rhythmically populist film that sends out a call to tolerance and a message that love always triumphs".
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Gujarati movie explores gay issues
 |
| Prince Manavendra Singh Gohil |
A Gujarati movie 'Meghdhanush [rainbow] - The colour of life' aims to explore the psychological anguish and difficulties that homosexuals face at various stages of their lives. Manavendra Singh Gohil, erstwhile prince of Rajpipla and gay rights activist, was in the city on Saturday dubbing for the movie in which he has a guest appearance.
"This is my way of expressing my support to the movie," said Gohil. "Mainstream cinema is a powerful medium to discuss any issue. We can talk and argue about our rights as part of a gay community, but when a person from outside the community makes a movie about gays, people can understand our perspective."Citing the difficulties that gays face, Gohil said, "Unawareness is a major reason for discrimination of homosexuals. While coming out to my parents was a bit easier, coming out in front of the world was more difficult. The public outcry did unnerve me but I had resolved that I will break the general homosexuality-related misconceptions and advance my work in gay rights and awareness."
'Meghdhanush' aims to create some awareness on the issue. It is a family drama, which takes the audience through a homosexual's anxiety and problems. Director Dr D N Devmani said, "It is an effort from our side to spread the message of respecting and accepting any individual, not ridiculing him."
The movie features gay actors along with Gujarati cinema's seasoned actors Jeet Upendra and Asha Panchal. "The support from the cast and crew of the movie was heartwarming," says the director. "Gay rights can not be won in courtrooms but should be won in the hearts and minds of people," said Manavendra. "Our duty is to educate people, no matter how long it takes."
Monday, 3 October 2011
Video: Arab Spring featured at LGBT film festival of Nice
Source: CINEMOTIONScom: 'Quelques jours de répit'
HUDÛD by Ariu Federico
By Frederick Maurice
[translated by F Young]
28 September was the beginning of ZeFestival, the next generation of the LGBT film festival of Nice in France. The French gay and lesbian magazine TÊTU met one of the organizers, who explains why he decided to focus on Arab cinema this year.
Eagerly awaited, Gaël Morel’s latest film came out on September 28 in France, and it is in Nice that the director chose to view it. Notre paradis (Our Paradise) inaugurated the fourth annual fall LGBT film festival of the Côte d'Azur, better known under the name Été Indien (Indian Summer). Or, rather, "ZeFestival" is the new name of this event, which remains faithful to its pioneering vocation.
With two or three screenings a day in various venues of Nice, eighteen feature films are on display until October 7. And, for the first time, a dozen short films will also be shown. Jacky Siret, the festival programmer who focused on Arab cinema, answers questions from TÊTU.
TÊTU: Why did you rename the “Eté indien" festival to "ZeFestival"?
Jacky Siret: It's a nod to our prestigious neighbour, the Cannes Film Festival. We thought that the [“L’Eté indien”] name was no longer really significant, that it lacked a cultural, LGBT or cinema connotation.
"ZeFestival" will allow us to make a smooth transition between “Eté indien," which is joined [to “ZeFestival”] this year so as to not lose the regulars, and the future name, which will surely be “Ze Festival LGBT de Nice” (The LGBT Festival of Nice) as early as next year...
Q: How is the film programming developed?
A: We try to identify a theme each year. Given current events and our geographical proximity to North Africa, it seemed obvious to spotlight the Arab Spring. But it is very difficult to find LGBT films dealing with the Arab condition; there are few of them.
At the Cannes Film Festival, where I sort of do my shopping, I found Quelques jours de répit (A few days of respite) by Amor Hakkar, who on Wednesday [Oct. 5], the day of its national release, will come present his film with Marina Vlady about two Iranians who cross the border.
Among the shorts, I found Hudûd, a little gem by Ariu Federico, a Belgian-Iranian. And Sunday [Oct. 2], Everett Lewis will present the world avant-première of Some Far Where, which was shot in Jordan.
Friday, 16 September 2011
Belorussian gay leader to visit UK
Belarus image via WikipediaDeputy Chairman Sergey Yenin of Belorussian LGBT rights group IDAHO-BELARUS will be brought to the UK in October, courtesy of the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival, for the screening of acclaimed documentary East Bloc Love.
The Australian documentary follows the actions of a small group of Belarusian LGBT activists preparing to march on the streets of the capital Minsk, to show their pride in spite of a government ban and threats of beatings from skinheads.
“I’ve been beaten by police, thrown out of my university by the secret police and exiled to Warsaw, but I will not be silenced by the dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenka.Following its successful world premiere at the San Francisco Frameline LGBT International Film Festival, East Bloc Love will mark its UK premiere at the Old Market Hall on 15 October at 1.30pm.
“Gay people in Belarus have no voice, so I’m grateful for being given the opportunity to highlight our cause to the wider European community” said Mr Yenin.
Sponsoring the event are the West Mercia Police, who will have a chance to see how the police in a dictatorship treat issues of homophobia and political activism.
Mr Yenin, who appears in the film, will be chairing a Q + A at the screening’s conclusion.
The sixth Rainbow Film Festival takes place from 14 – 16 October at the Old Market Hall Cinema in Shrewsbury.
- For more information please visit http://www.rainbowfilmfestival.org.uk/eastbloclove.htm
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Video: New film looks at plight of gay Palestinian refugees in Israel
A new upcoming film by director Yariv Mozer.
Early morning, the streets of south Tel Aviv are still empty. Louie, age 31, looks right, and left, and then again. He makes his way onto a side street, scanning the people around him. He then approaches a bus stop and waits calmly, always looking down, the scar across his cheek shimmering in the light, a Jewish Star dancing gently around his neck. Louie wonders: should he put his yarmulke on too? He boards the bus and sits down, glancing at the attractive man near him. A border policeman comes into view. Louie panics: should he make an exit?
In Israel’s liberal cultural capital, Louie found the freedom to express his homosexuality in a physical way that the social mores and laws of Palestinian society do not permit. And so this man has been hiding in Tel Aviv for so many years, so desperately alone; you need nothing more than to look into his tender eyes to see it. Louie always dodges other Palestinians or even Arab Israelis (gay ones too) who could inform his family in Nablus – or his relatives in Jaffa – of his whereabouts. Louie has no address, no passport, no true friends, no real lovers.
The film “The Invisible Men” will tell Louie’s story as he navigates his complicated reality between the Occupied Territories and Israel. On that journey, we will discover other gay Palestinian men in hiding, be they in Tel Aviv’s open-air prison, the West Bank’s gay underground, or yet worse, Gaza’s cage. We will render these “invisible men” undeniably visible.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Are asylum seekers lying when their testimony is inconsistent? A personal story
By Ben Achtenberg
I’ve just been re-reading Judy Eidelson’s PsySR post, Traumatic Memories, Well-Founded Fears, and Credibility. The article is based on Judy’s experiences in documenting the psychological impact of torture trauma for clients who are seeking political asylum in the United States.
As she points out, torture survivors’ requests for asylum are often turned down because asylum officers and immigration judges:
“assess the credibility of a refugee’s testimony by scrutinizing it for inconsistencies. Many asylum claims are denied because the case record includes conflicting accounts of details in the asylum seeker’s story, or because aspects of the story deemed important by officials only emerge late in the proceedings. But these kinds of inconsistencies are a hallmark of PTSD.”Judy’s observations have been overwhelmingly borne out in the interviews I’ve done for our film, Refuge: Caring for Survivors of Torture.
Folks have repeatedly told us about torture survivors who were turned down for asylum because of slight discrepancies between their affidavits and their verbal testimonies, or their statements on different dates – different recollections of the number of people inflicting the torture, for example, or not remembering the exact dates they were imprisoned. Several people mentioned cases in which the asylum applicant failed to mention some particularly degrading element of their torture on first testifying – rape or other sexual torture, for example – but added it later, and were disbelieved.
Eidelson notes:
“Part of the problem is that many of us cling to the idea that no matter what people have been through – including rape, mutilation, and the slaughter of loved ones – they will act in just the way we like to think we would have acted. We would remember exactly what happened. We would know what parts of our long trails of misery are most relevant to immigration authorities. We would report exactly the same details each time we were asked. We would have no trouble talking about it, even in front of strangers who accuse us of lying. We would look appropriately upset while telling the story – crying at the sad parts and making eye contact throughout.”
Would we, indeed?
Monday, 22 August 2011
Video: powerful new Swiss film looks at failed asylum seekers - and what happens after return
Source: thefinette31
Source: swissinfo.ch
By Stefania Summermatter
Swiss filmmaker Fernand Melgar has returned to the Locarno Film Festival with a powerful documentary on forced deportations of failed asylum seekers.
Melgar’s work, shot at the Frambois detention centre in Geneva, is up for the Golden Leopard in the International Competition. He tells swissinfo.ch about why he was motivated to make the film.
Every year thousands of illegal aliens, for the most part clandestine immigrants and asylum seekers, are held at one of 28 detention centres in Switzerland prior to being expelled from the country.
Vol spécial (Special flight), offers a glimpse inside the centre at Frambois. Through the stories of six migrants, Melgar reveals the months of waiting, hope and despair. He highlights humanity of the guards, but also the inhumanity of forcible deportation.
The documentary’s screening follows a period of controversy over deportation flights. In March 2010 a Nigerian man died during an expatriation attempt, leading to the temporary suspension of all such flights. They resumed for Africa, with the exception of Nigeria, in July 2010. A first flight for Nigeria took off last month, but was not without incident as two Nigerians resisted boarding.
Melgar previously won a Golden Leopard in the 'Filmmakers of the Present' section of Locarno for La Forteresse (The Fortress) in 2008, which tells the story of those going through the asylum process at the Registration Centre in Vallorbe in western Switzerland. His current work is one of three Swiss films in competition for the top prize at Locarno.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Video: 'Getting Out': five LGBT refugee stories from Africa
'Getting Out' was produced by the Refugee Law Project in collaboration with the Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights & Constitutional Law. It is a documentary following the stories of five individuals seeking to escape persecution on the grounds of their gender or sexual preference. Shot in Uganda, South Africa, Geneva and London, the film is 60 minutes and is viewable in two parts.
"Getting Out" Part. 1 from Edward Mundy on Vimeo.
Getting out (Part 2) from Edward Mundy on Vimeo.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
In China, LGBT organising driven underground again
The 5th Beijing Queer Film Festival, China's first full-fledged LGBT film festival founded 10 years ago, has concluded but not before demands by officials to shut down the event sparked off yet another round of cat-and-mouse which gay community organisers in China are by now so used to.
Previously held in the Songzhuang artist commune outside of Beijing, the festival was moved into the city by organisers because they wanted to make the event more accessible to people living downtown. Originally unsure if this would open the festival to a greater risk of getting shut down, organisers were given the final push when DOChina, an independent documentary film festival scheduled to take place in Songzhuang in May, was forced to be cancelled.
Organisers eventually decided to host the festival at the Dongjen Book Club, located in the capital's Xicheng District but determined they would not officially announce the venue until the last minute to lower the risk of a premature shutdown. This strategy was similarly adopted by ShanghaiPRIDE in 2010 after the police demanded the cancellation of several events during the inaugural festival a year earlier.
Three days before the start of the festival, however, on June 12, district police as well as officers from the Bureau of Industry and Trade, as well as the Culture Bureau, showed up at the book club, and demanded to meet with the organisers. At the meeting, the police informed organisers that the festival was "illegal" and had to be cancelled. The book club was also threatened with "harsh consequences" if it decided to go ahead with the hosting of the festival. Organisers, till this day, remain in the dark as to how government authorities found out where they were hosting the event, as the venue was very much a tight secret kept among themselves.
Eventually, organisers decided they would go ahead with the festival, but host each night's screenings at a different location, and close the event only to invited guests. To the general public though, they gave the impression that the festival was indeed cancelled - people who had booked seats were informed that the event would not be taking place.
Notable Taiwanese gay filmmaker Mickey Chen (陈俊志), on his very first trip to mainland China, told Shanghaiist how organisers were still scrambling to finalise the venue for his screening on the day itself. Other guests invited to the festival from outside of mainland China include queer cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer, Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival organizer Sridhar Rangayan, and Chinese-Canadian video artist Wayne Yung. They presented their films alongside about 15 mainland Chinese filmmakers.
A grand total of 500 people attended the five day festival.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Another new Iranian film explores gay life
Source: Bridge+Tunnel
I Am Nasrine (Official Trailer) from Bridge+Tunnel on Vimeo.
In new Iranian film 'I Am Nasrine' Ali begins to discover his sexuality as Nasrine finds her strength. Tragic events turn their world upside for a pair who are just trying to find a better world.
- For screening news, see the Facebook page.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Video: New film documents the accommodations of gay life in China
Source: Gay China Film Project
Indigogo campaign from Sophia Luvara' on Vimeo.
Stampede presents our latest documentary project, code-named “The Gay China Film”. Homosexuality has been legal in China since 1997, but the people’s adjustment on both sides of the fence is a fascinating performance of carrying on, as if nothing is happening. Imagine great crowds of gay men and lesbian women meeting to choose one another as partners, just to keep their parents satisfied that the family blood-line has a chance of continuing.
Feng finds himself in an invidious situation, with no right choices. In a China still living under the yoke of the ‘One Child Policy’, where the vast majority of families only produce one child, marriage and having babies have become the most important issues in a young Chinese person’s life.
The utilitarian approach of the State combined with the family-centred hangover of Confucianism means that you would be selfish or foolish not to understand your role at the centre of this issue.
Consider the flamboyant first Gay Pride celebration just 8 years after homosexuality was declassified as a ‘disturbed mental disorder.’
Stampede has begun work on a hugely intriguing documentary following Chinese gay men, looking for love, alongside the search for a female partner. Delving in to how gay culture is growing in the East, but in a way which is poles apart from the West’s, The Gay China Film is a 2-year project showing some of the most astounding stories of gay rights in one of the world’s most oppressed (and perhaps confused) societies.
We are in great need of funds for the project and are asking for your kind donations via IndieGoGo. We have the people to follow, we have the plan. Your money will go towards the initial filming stage of the documentary out in China, needed for travel, accommodation, and other running costs of the most important part of the project.
Your donation, small or large, will be very much appreciated. Our dedicated project website is almost ready, where you’ll be able to follow our progress through a blog, twitter, photo and video. You’ll also get to know our team and how the documentary process can really work!
We thank you very, very much in advance for your help – and if you have any questions before donating, please do email stampede@inbox.com
Monday, 13 June 2011
Video: Satire!: Battyman Forever
HUMOUR
'Battyman Forever' exposes the highly murderous and savage homosexual underbelly of Trinidad and Tobago and illustrates why gay rights should never be given to these people.
A film by Daniella Candice Brown:
"A woman on a mission to STOP THE SLACKNESS and enlighten through wit, farce and satire."Warning: strong language, NSFW
Part one:
Part two:
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