Lovers Out East: qUEER aSIAN cINEMA
For this year’s pride month, Calgary Cinematheque is highlighting Queer Cinema from East Asia. The films in our lineup are: The Handmaiden (2016), Taboo (1999), and Saving Face (2004), retrospectively. We want to highlight culture in tandem with queer love, and the connection and relation between the two. Our culture and societal circumstances can be a supporter, or an opposition to same-sex relationships. It is important to understand how these factors can vary between different regions, and see different perspectives and challenges others experience in their own queer relationships. While queer love can be seen as a negative stigma throughout many countries, every region has its own queer people who have their own stories to tell. East Asia, particularly the countries in which these lineups originate from; Korea, Japan, and Chinese-American, have all provided true and genuine queer stories in their history of filmmaking amongst the backdrop of their countries. These 3 films portray unconventional queer storytelling that we don’t often see in Western films.
Not only do these films depict genuine, and real queer relationships, but they also give insight into the culture and society these characters live in. Where we come from and our culture can be as much as a part of our identity and our queerness, and it is important to highlight the societal struggles these characters go through against their romance. It is the struggles and support we receive, our cultural customs and beliefs, that affect who we are, and ultimately affect our relationships.
Following Asian Heritage Month, Calgary Cinematheque also would like to invite audiences to experience films that provide insight into the East Asian languages, cultures, customs, and societies that are shown through our lineup, and highlight the East Asian directors, crews, and real cultural histories behind these stories that depict East Asian characters.
Art by Sheena Agnew.
Series Films
The Handmaiden (2016)
Directed by Park Chan-wook
June 6, 2024
The Handmaiden is one of Park Chan-wook’s most iconic films. In classic Chan-wook style, it has mystery and action elements, with mind-bending plot twists. Set in Japan-occupied Korea of the early 1900s, Chan-wook unconventionally tells the story of two women who become attracted to each other, and fall into a surprising romantic relationship.
Taboo (1999)
Directed by Nagisa Oshima
June 13, 2024
Gohatto (Taboo) is the dreamlike final film of director Nagisa Oshima (In The Realm Of The Senses, Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence). When a new Samurai recruit joins the ranks of the all-male warrior class, his beauty and skill capture the attention of nearly all his comrades. Aloof and ambiguous in his sexuality, the anarchy his presence unleashes not only attracts his brethren, but also threatens to violently upend the stability of their entire society.
Saving Face (2004)
Directed by Alice Wu
June 20, 2024
Saving Face is Alice Wu’s debut directorial film. A Chinese-American lesbian filmmaker, Saving Face is a film loosely based on Wu’s personal life. Despite protests from Hollywood production companies to white-wash the film, Wu insisted on keeping the cast strictly Chinese-American with Mandarin included in the film.
