Once considered niche and even highly taboo, queer films are becoming increasingly common in Asia as societal acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community grows. Taiwan was the first territory in Asia to allow same-sex marriage in 2019, followed by Nepal in 2023 and Thailand just last month.
“In many countries, being LGBTQ+ is no longer criminalised, and mainstream attitudes are shifting towards greater openness and inclusivity,” says Ray Yeung, the Hong Kong director of All Shall Be Well, which won last year’s Teddy Award at the Berlinale and was recognised in the Panorama audience awards. “Education, social media and more progressive views have empowered younger generations to embrace their identities and express their sexuality openly.”
The family drama joined a raft of Chinese-language queer films that have earned recognition in Berlin over the past three decades. The Teddy is the world’s oldest and most prestigious LGBTQ+ film award, and past winners include 1998’s Hold You Tight by Hong Kong’s Stanley Kwan, 2007’s Spider Lilies by Taiwan’s Zero Chou, 2016 documentary Small Talk by Taiwan’s Huang Hui-chen, and 2019’s A Dog Barking At The Moon by China’s Xiang Zi.
Despite progress, many investors still perceive such topics as a financial risk, which makes funding a significant hurdle. When Yeung sought backing for his 2019 drama Suk Suk (aka Twilight’s Kiss) about two older gay men, local film production companies showed little interest and he had to rely on private money to bring it to life. But the gamble paid off as the film — which premiered in Busan ahead of the Berlinale’s Panorama — secured a global release, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, North America, France, Spain and Brazil.
Suk Suk’s success did not make the funding process any easier for All Shall Be Well, which revolves around an older female couple. Both films faced additional challenges concerning the age of the protagonists. “Investors often believed that audiences would be disinterested in characters over 45,” recalls Yeung. “This bias was particularly pronounced for women.”
Having organised the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival for more than 20 years, the largest such event in Asia, he further notes that “lesbian films typically struggle at the box office compared to gay films, often earning less than half”.
Fortunately, the Teddy win opened doors for All Shall Be Well. It is performing well in Europe, screening in more than 90 cinemas in France, over 30 cinemas in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and more than 12 in Belgium. It has also been released in the US and Taiwan, with upcoming releases in Greece, Thailand, Japan and Spain.
Boosting visibility
The boys’ love (BL) genre has gained substantial popularity and attracted a large active fandom over the past decade, with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand as the key hubs. These narratives are known for their romantic fantasies without the constraints of traditional gender roles in heterosexual relationships. Although this genre has faced criticism for not adequately addressing real queer issues, it has enhanced visibility in mainstream media.
“There is an intermixing of business opportunities with the opportunity to push for social change,” says Jay Lin, founder of Taiwan-based media and entertainment production and distribution house Portico Media and GagaOOLala, Taiwan’s first LGBTQ+ streaming platform with a global footprint. The banner’s recent titles include the second season of Taiwanese girls’ love (GL) series Fragrance Of The First Flower and LGBTQ+ feature Wrath Of Desire from Teddy Award winner Chou.
“BL and GL titles feature well-known idols and have the ability to bring in queer as well as straight audiences, as the genres are more romantic comedy,” says Lin. “The simple fact that these works are able to bring mass audiences to consume what are essentially queer love stories is, by itself, the biggest change.”
These titles do not just play on the festival circuit, but have inspired crowdsourcing fans to book screenings, resulting in surprisingly strong box-office results. “They potentially can do well in markets like Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines, and subsequently bring the offline success to streaming platforms when the films eventually leave the theatres,” he adds.
Berlin selection
Two Chinese-language films in Panorama that are vying for the Teddy Award this year include Chu Ping’s first feature Silent Sparks, fully backed by Taiwan’s public broadcaster Public Television Service, which follows the relationship of two former cellmates from the criminal underworld; and Hong Kong director Jun Li’s Queerpanorama, centred on a gay man who can only be honest about himself with a forged persona borrowed from the men with whom he has sex.
Taiwanese director Julian Chou’s Blind Love, about a high-school boy who falls for a mysterious woman that turns out to be his mother’s ex-girlfriend, recently played in Rotterdam’s Tiger competition. It stars Ariel Lin and Wu Ke-Xi.
There are markets where it would still be hard for queer titles to secure distribution, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and China.
A handful of mainland Chinese queer films have created a sensation on the international festival circuit over the past 30 years, but the creative environment does not allow their theatrical release back home. These include two films that achieved a first in Chinese cinema as the country’s inaugural explicitly gay-themed film and first lesbian feature respectively: 1996’s East Palace, West Palace by Zhang Yuan, which won multiple awards at Mar del Plata before playing in Un Certain Regard at Cannes; and 2001’s Fish And Elephant by Li Yu, which won an award in Venice.
Further no-gos include Stanley Kwan’s Beijing-set Lan Yu from Cannes’ Un Certain Regard 2001, Lou Ye’s Spring Fever, winner of the best screenplay prize at Cannes in 2009, and Berlinale 2019 Teddy winner A Dog Barking At The Moon.
Fresh from Rotterdam’s Bright Future sidebar this year is 1 Girl Infinite, directed by and starring Lilly Hu, who is fully aware her coming-of-age drama about two young women who have feelings for each other does not stand much chance of getting beyond Chinese censors.
Suffering the same fate was Geng Jun’s Bel Ami, winner of three Taiwan Golden Horse Awards including best actor for Zhang Zhiyong and an audience award in November last year. “It was destined that it would not be released or screened locally because it would not pass censorship,” says Wang Zijian, who produced the same-sex dark comedy through his Blackfin Production, which moved to Paris from Beijing last year. The failure to pass censorship meant the film had to be an international production to avoid legal risks.
He observes that social media has prompted the liberation of individual identity from collective life in China. “Queer films and feminist films are more strongly liberal than ever in the current context of China, which is also the cause of the tension,” he says.
Geng had little concept of queer narratives before he met a gay man and became interested in his love story — for him, he is making a film about love, not a queer feature about gender but about individuals who use love to bridge the alienation between people. It was the first time that most of his team had made a film with an LGBTQ+ theme. “The team felt the passion of free creation that they hadn’t for a long time,” recalls Wang. “It helps us understand that prejudice often stems from the unfamiliar, and the structural plight of minority groups is more or less the same.”
After the Golden Horse wins, limited special screenings of three Geng films (Bel Ami, Sundance winner Free And Easy and Shanghai winner Manchurian Tiger) were held in Taipei and Kaohsiung. But a theatrical release for Bel Ami is not on the cards. Despite wearing the label of a French production, it is still considered a mainland Chinese production in Taiwan, so is required to go through a lottery quota system for distribution.
Wang has launched a public petition to amend the regulations. “We hope we can change the way Taiwan defines a ‘Chinese film’, which hopefully will bring about a new horizon for independent filmmakers who wish to pursue free expression to gather in Taiwan — the last resort of freedom for Chinese independent films,” he says.
All Shall Be Well had a timely release in Hong Kong last year, coinciding with the government’s decision to appeal a court ruling that recognised same-sex marriages from overseas. This sparked widespread discussions on the importance of affirming same-sex marriage — not just for the LGBTQ+ community, but for the foundation of all human relationships.
All Shall Be Well explores themes of equality, discrimination and prejudice, while also questioning the meaning of family. “The film advocates for change, and I like to believe it has contributed to the positive developments regarding the same-sex marriage decision by Hong Kong’s top court,” says Yeung. “Overall, LGBTQ+ individuals are experiencing greater acceptance and facing less discrimination, allowing them to live authentically without the burden of secrecy or shame.”
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