Fridae

The 24th Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival will kick off on September 18 with two films: Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra, a biopic starring Michael Douglas as virtuoso pianist Liberace and his love affair with Scott Thorson played by Matt Damon; and Concussion, a Teddy Award drama about a lesbian 42-year-old mother of two who becomes a prostitute after an head injury.

The 24th Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, which runs until October 5, will screen a total 54 films from around the world< – exceeding any previous year’s record – under five sections: Asia, Youth, Panorama, Bi-the Way and Les Porn.

The Last Match (La Partida) Cuba, Spain / 2013 / Colour / 94 minutes

The biggest highlight of the festival this year must be the closing films. Blue Is the Warmest Colour seamlessly translates the poetic sentiment in the French graphic novel Le Bleu est une couleur chaude onto the big screen. During the three-hour screening, audience and critics are captivated by director Abdellatif Kechiche’s extended long sequences and the stellar portrayal by the two young actresses, ultimately giving it the unprecedented honour: to be awarded the Palme d'Or to both director and two actresses at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Another French film Stranger by the Lake on the other hand, offers the thrill of riding a Ferrari in midnight by presenting the cruising culture of gay men realistically yet dramatically at the same time. Franck spends his summer afternoons in the cruising area near a mysterious lake. The time is enjoyed with friendship with his soul-mate Henri and physical bond with mysterious Michel, until the stillness of the calm water can no longer conceal the rift of danger and desire. A murder case is found and anyone can be the secret killer. Writer-director Alain Guiraudie skillfully blends eroticism and suspense together, combining two genres into one film so perfect that the film wins both the Directing Prize of Un Certain Regard and Queer Palme of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

On top of the Asian premieres of the four films above, other highlights from the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2013 include the new programs “Bi the way . . .” and “Les Porn.” The former highlights the further marginalised bisexuals within the queer community who cannot be easily recognised at first glance. Presented by Goethe-Institut, Free Fall captures the unbearable weight of being a bisexual man in the police force while The Happy Sad explores sexual diversity with two couples being caught intertwined when they create new relationship norms and identities. We are proud to have Swedish filmmaking Marit Österberg coming to Hong Kong with her lesbian porn series. Marit sees pornography as a creative way of working with sexual politics and expanding possibilities of being in the world and this is the first time we bring the issue of female sexuality up front. Apart from Marit’s films, we also have another provocateur spiced with humour by Cheryl Dunye – Mommy Is Coming. It is a story of two looking alike mother and daughter making series of jokes in the fashion of Shakespearean play, just sexier and crazier to give audience a lighter, alternative understanding of porn.

Also coming are Thai director Thitipan Raksasat and the actors Asia Jeennukul and Top Smith with their new gay sex comedy Love Next Door. The story begins with a runaway teen leaving home for Bangkok. He stays at his friend’s house where people knock on the wrong door to pay for sex, not knowing he would end up falling in love with the guy next door who actually is the one those customers looking for! As a sweet rom-com without a discriminative lens, the film shows the general acceptance towards gay community in Thailand. On the contrary, Soongava: Dance of the Orchids marks the first lesbian film from Nepal, where same-sex relationship has yet little media exposure.

Next “Asian Focus” is Schoolgirl Complex from Japan. Sharing the same title of Yuki Aoyama’s photography, veteran director Yuichi Onuma also creates a visually stunning work with students in junior high uniform, full of the aura of female intimacy and nostalgia of college in delicate subtlety. The coming-of-age experience, on the other hand, is quite different in the States. Popular pick from OutFest and Frameline, G. B. F. brings the sassy gossip girls into the flamboyant scene of a catfight for the gay best friend in school. It only gets campier with our gay nursery-school teacher Ofer joins Universong competition with his friends in Israeli director Eytan Fox’s latest musical comedy Cupcakes. As usual in our evergreen “16+ Youth” program, we have handpicked some of the most refreshing stories across the continents, may it be bitter or sweet, you will be moved.

You shall never miss our “Panorama” this year for the wide range of topics and issues raised by the films. Selected in Sundance and Berlinale, Interior. Leather Bar. is the latest project by Hollywood heartthrob James Franco and independent filmmaker Travis Mathews to re-create the 40-minute footage cut and destroyed from the Al Pacino movie Cruising and question the way our society sees transgression in the process of filmmaking. The international premiere of Test outside the North American region brings forth our concern over AIDS movement with the beautiful story set in the 1980s about two contemporary dancers facing the epidemic with uncertainty.

How to Survive a Plague in another way narrates the untold stories of those heroes who endeavoured to combat AIDS, nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. Other documentary works include Girl or Boy, My Sex is Not my Gender unpacking the meaning of man and woman to navigate between gender boundaries, and Entry Denied on the immigration struggles of Americans with their foreign lovers. Last but not least, “Man Shorts” continue to shortlist those striking films despite their length with special selection of Entwine directed by the Raymond Yeung, founder of the HKLGFF.

Tickets of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2013 go on sale on 25th August, 2013. The “Opening Gala” VIP Ticket package costs $320 and includes a ticket to either one opening film and entrance to the Avant G’Art opening party with a free standard drink; the “Closing Gala” VIP Ticket package costs $280 for Blue Is The Warmest Colour and $250 for Stranger by the Lake; it also includes a ticket to the respective closing film and entrance to the closing party with one free standard drink. Other films are $70 (Broadway Cinematheque), $75 (The ONE) and $90 (PALACE IFC). Tickets are sold at the above cinemas, ticketing machines or on their respective websites. Telephone booking can be made at 2388 3188 (Broadway Cinematheque and The ONE), 2388 6268 (PALACE IFC) or 2265 8933 (AMC Festival Walk). There is a handling charge of $8 for every ticket booked over the telephone or the Internet. 20% off on any ticket for ‘Broadway Cinematheque VIP members’ at Broadway Cinematheque and 15% off films at The ONE and PALACE IFC.

For more information about the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2013, please visit hklgff.hk or follow us on Facebook.