Q! Film Festival Jakarta will feature 132 films in total (28 feature films, 16 documentaries, and 88 short films) from 25 countries including local production Arisan! which features Indonesia's first gay screen kiss. For more info, please visit http://q-filmfestival.tripod.com.
John Badalu, director and film programmer of Q! Film Festival Jakarta
John: My name is John Badalu. People in Jakarta always called me "THE cultural slut" but deep down inside I'm just a slut. But I'm recovering.
æ: ASOL (Age, Sex, Occupation, Location)
John: 33 going 21. Male (of course, whaddaya think?), arts manager/amateur photographer/ex-DJ/freelance journalist/hardcore traveller. Jakarta and anywhere near water and sea.
æ: What's your "look"?
John: Casual, gay-acting in the gay community, straight-acting in the heterosexual world.
æ: What are you currently occupied with?
John: The bloody-endless-drama Q! Film Festival, featuring LGBT and AIDS films.
æ: What inspires you?
John: The sun and the moon (but not feng-shui).
æ: What is your earliest childhood memory?
John: I posed and smiled everytime I was photographed by my dad.
æ: What is the achievement you are most proud of?
John: Being an independent jury at Berlin Film Festival last year.
æ: If you could do it all over again, what would you change?
John: I'm a constant change. Nothing in me ever stays the same.
æ: How are you misunderstood?
John: People always think I'm a gay activist. I'm not! I'm just organising a gay and lesbian film festival.
æ: How do you spend your Sundays?
John: Catching up with friends, eating dim-sum, and lots of coffee and gossip.
æ: Tell us one of your fantasies.
John: An orgy on a deserted island with 100 naked men for a week.
æ: What about yourself would you like to change the most?
John: My butt. They are too flat like an ironing board.
æ: What was the most important thing that happened to you in the last 12 months?
John: The ability to attend all the dream film festivals and working in some of them.
æ: What do you think is important in a relationship?
John: Trust and compassion.
æ: What turns you on?
John: The peculiar look in the eyes, chins, kiss and toes.
æ: What's your biggest guilty pleasure?
John: Desserts... hmmm... especially gelato. I ate it almost everyday when I was living in Italy.
æ: What is your vision for the gay community?
John: I wish that the gay community here are more relaxed and stop being drama queens. I want to build a gay community with creative vision and do something useful for the gay community and creating a positive image and discard all the negative gay stereotypes.
æ: Tell us about a cause that you support?
John: I am an AIDS activist. Safer sex is so much fun.
æ: Who would your dream date be if you were straight (if you are gay), or gay (if you are straight) for a day?
John: Rupert Everett or Will Kemp. I think Rupert is such a gentleman and fun. His voice turns me on. Will Kemp is just my latest obsession. And British guys are my soft spot (although I know they are mostly hopeless and boring -based on my experience). Kate Beckinsale. She's gorgeous and sexy especially in those leather outfit in the film "Underworld" and "Van Helsing".
æ: Tell us something even your mother doesn't know.
John: I peed in my pants one night in winter.