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Q! Film Festival: Something for everyone
From Japan: In The Family Complete, director Imaizumi Koichi explores — in a tragicomedy — gay men’s love and sex, but with an entirely different approach than the one in his last film, Hatsu-koi
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span class="inline inline-left">From Japan: In The Family Complete, director Imaizumi Koichi explores — in a tragicomedy — gay men’s love and sex, but with an entirely different approach than the one in his last film, Hatsu-koi.
Are you Top or Bottom ? Do you like it short or long? Do you like fiction or true stories? Light or serious?
Starting this week, The Q! Film Festival offers a wide selection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and human rights themed films catering to different styles and tastes.
Now in its 9th year, the festival opened Wednesday with an art exhibition themed Top Bottom, referring to the dichotomy of sexual roles in gay relations.
For 10 days, Q-munity, organizer of Q! Film Festival, is presenting almost 120 film screenings, two art exhibitions, and discussions in 10 venues spread across the city. All events are free.
The art exhibition, showcasing interpretations of the phrase “Top Bottom” by 12 artists, will run throughout the festival at Cipta 3 Gallery, in the Taman Ismail Marzuki art center.
Festival co-founder and director John Badalu said on Tuesday there would be different styles of films in the festival. “We have wide variety of films. If you like light happy films or musicals, we have them. If you like very serious movies on human rights, we have them as well. We’re presenting experimental films without a clear narrative and we also have documentaries,” John said.
“We have very inspirational films. We have films that have stories on gays living a repressed life in small cities. There’s also films set in big cities where gays encounter different problems from those in small cities.”
Short film enthusiasts will be pampered with works from prolific Singaporean filmmaker Royston Tan in a segment called Royston Tan Lah.
A compilation of short films themed “Boys Will be Boys” will focus on boys and being gay.
“It’s about love, it’s about relationships, it’s about coming out, but more importantly it’s about good looking boys parading on screen and it’s comic!” states the Q! festival website.
For those wanting to see short films made by Indonesians, make sure you don’t miss the “Pink Homemade” compilation.
Indonesian directors whose films will be screened at the festival include the experimental Paul Agusta, whose film delves into the life of a woman with bipolar disorder, From the Very Bottom of Everything. John explained that while Paul’s film did not have a gay theme, it was chosen to represent a gay filmmaker.
“We not only screen films with gay themes but also from gay filmmakers. He is example of a filmmaker who’s productive and comfortable [with his sexuality],” John said.
Other Indonesian filmmakers include Teddy Soeriaatmaja, Sammaria Simanjuntak, Danial Rifky, Orlow Seunke, Ravi Bharwani, Nurman Hakim, Sigi Wimala, Lukman Sardi, Steven Facius, Agnes Christina, Billy Christian and Stella Kim.
International filmmakers attending the festival include Japanese Hiroki Iwasa and Koichi Imaizumi, and Lawrence Ferber from the US.
Other guests include Zvonimir Dobrovic, the organizer of the Croatian Queer Film Festival, book editor and writer Mohamad Azwan Ismail, Pang Khee Telk from Malaysia from the Sexuality Merdeka Festival Organizer, and impersonator-entertainer Gary Chihsin from Singapore.
John said organizers were happy with the size of the festival. “We’re not trying to make it bigger. It’s more or less the same size [as last year]. It’s still 10 days. The only difference is we have increased the number of venues to 10, compared to 8 last year.” The number of film screenings is the same as well, he added.
The Q! Festival is also keeping true to its purpose. “We aim to raise awareness about LGBT issues and give people alternatives films to watch,” he said.
While a growing number of Indonesians are increasingly aware of LGBT issues, the perception is still negative, he went on. The local mainstream media’s depiction of LGBTs, he added, was still negative too.
The LGBT-rights movement in Indonesia has grown over the years, with several gay rights groups and organizations joining international LGBT-rights network, such as the International Lesbians and Gay Association (ILGA). However, LGBTs are still discriminated against, with hard-line groups continuously harassing LGBT groups.
According to John, the Q! Festival aims to reach out to individuals and hopefully give them inspiration. He said many people had come up to him to tell him they had grown more courageous in resigning from discriminative workplaces or coming out to their families.
— Photos courtesy of Q! Film Festival
Q! Film Festival
Until 30 Sept.
Screenings at Q! Film Festival are free of charge but only for people who are at least 17 years of age (ID card may be required). Screenings and fringe events will take place GoetheHaus, Erasmus Huis, Kineforum, Centre Culturel Francais (CCF), Subtitles, Cemara 6 Gallery, Japan Foundation, IndoChine, Apollo Bar, Marley Bar, Hollywood KC 21, Galeri Cipta III.
For schedule and full event details please visit www.qfilmfestival.org
