China's first gay and lesbian film festival barely opened before it was shut down.

Three days into the 10-day event, officers of the Public Security Bureau stormed the tiny 300-seater library, rigged as a cinema, in Beijing's prestigious Beida University. They aborted the festival on the grounds the movies being shown - including China's first gay film, East Palace, West Palace and the first ever mainland lesbian movie, Fish and Elephant - had not been approved for public screening, says Yang Yang, one of the organisers.

That was back in December 2001.

Today, the Chinese capital is hosting its second Beijing International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, but this time the organisers are being more cautious.

The low-key event runs just three days until Sunday, and promotion has been muted - limited to their website, word of mouth and notices within Beida.

In 2001 they advertised the event with a magazine.

This time, even the name of the venue does not appear on the website, it is only revealed on the ticket face, says Yang Yang. Movie passes are discreetly sold at gay and lesbian bars in the city.

Not being able to freely promote the event is its biggest obstacle, says Yang Yang.

But their hands are tied. It is impossible, she says, to hand out flyers or put up posters outside of the university. It would not be tolerated.

As an example of what they are up against, on the eve of the festival the organisers were pulled up by the university authorities, who threatened to cancel the event since they had not approved the program.

Yang Yang explains how they had to smooth talk their way past the red tape, offering up non-controversial samples of the screenings.

They got their permission.

It's an example of how China's gay and lesbian community avoids head on confrontation with the authorities, choosing instead to creep quietly forward behind the scenes.

In fact, the 14 movies on show at this year's festival are nothing shocking by western standards.

There are nine films from mainland China, mostly low budget affairs with gay love themes.

---

Star Appeal, is a science fiction flick featuring an extra-terrestrial and gay boys; Shanghai Panic deals with angry young gays and lesbians wrestling with relationships and AIDS; and the documentary Beautiful Men follows three dancers at a drag bar in Chengdu.

The two Hong Kong entrants are both lesbian dramas: Ho Yuk: Let's Love Hong Kong and last year's commercial success, Butterfly.

Taiwan's Splendid Float is a romantic comedy whose star is a Taoist priest by day and a drag queen by night.

There are also two non-gay French movies - Cannes award-winning Dreamlife of Angels on the friendship between two women, and Jeanne and the Perfect Man - a musical touching on AIDS.

The 20,000-yuan event is being sponsored by AIZHI Action Project (Beijing), a local non-profit organization on AIDS related issues. Despite the lack of publicity the organisers are hoping around 10,000 people will attend.

The festival appears to be more important as a symbol, rather than as a means for the gay community to celebrate or access queer cinema. Pirate DVD markets in Beijing stock a wide range of uncensored international and Chinese gay and lesbian movies as well as popular gay TV series - Queer as Folk and its lesbian counterpart, The L Word even before their official DVDs are released.

One Beijing-based Chinese lesbian says she could find the movies easier by herself than by trekking out to the event.

Despite being low-key, the festival holds some ambitious aims.

"We want the event to show that love between the same sex is the same as the love between a man and a woman," says Yang Yang, who has been the driving force behind both festivals.

"We want to extinguish the sense of guilt that society gives to homosexuals," adds the 20-something translator.

"In China, homosexuality is still considered a kind of plague, a perversion. And the country's low level of sexual education is helping the spread of STDs and HIV."

It wasn't until April 2001, that the Chinese Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a sexual disorder.

Discussions on safe sex practices will be held between movie screenings, and this year's event aims to heighten awareness of sexual diseases.

Observers say gay and lesbian groups are increasingly using the promotion of safer sex as a means of winning approval from authorities.

Sitting in a Beida canteen, surrounded by students, the diminutive Yang Yang says she feels strongly about these issues because, "I have some gay friends. I believe their troubles should be shared."

She says organising such a controversial event has been stressful, but if she can pull it off this year, in 2006 she wants to hold a more ambitious cultural gay and lesbian-themed festival with theatre, dance and discussion groups as well as movies.

And, she shrugs, if we don't do it, who would give Beijing such an important festival?

The second Beijing International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is being held at Beijing University and the Beijing French Cultural Centre from April 22 to 24.