Road Trip: Queer East On The Road preview

Queer East is London-based but it’s bringing its annual showcase of boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema on the road. The festival’s aim is to amplify the voices of Asian communities and challenge the conventional labels and stereotypes associated with queer Asian portrayals, and its small but stellar touring programme of great queer Asian cinema, both new and old, should do just that. 

One of the best-looking new titles in the programme is Ben Mullinkosson’s The Last Year of Darkness. Ravers young and old should make a beeline for this neon-soaked documentary about nonconformist youths in Chengdu, China who’ve found a queer haven in an underground techno club called Funky Town, which probably isn't going to be around long with cranes moving in to rebuild the neighbourhood; it’s a glorious love letter to the temporary communities that form on the dancefloor.

Of the older work, be sure to see the extraordinary The River from the great Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang. It’s a mesmerising study of pain, isolation and horniness – many of Tsai’s favourite themes – following three members of a dysfunctional family (a mother, a father and their adult son), with Tsai exploring their alienation and desires in his trademark long, engrossing shots. And for a more rounded view of contemporary Asian queer cinema, check out Welcome to Neverland, a short film programme of weird and wonderful films blurring boundaries between reality and fantasy and challenging cultural understandings of gender and sexuality.

---

Queer East Festival: On The Road tours the UK this autumn, including Cameo, Edinburgh, 17-21 Oct; Queer East also partner with SQIFF for Bye Bye Love, CCA, Glasgow, 10 Oct

Full programme at queereast.org.uk