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Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Take the lesbian challenge at Pink Filmfest
* 'Happy Together' to be shown Tuesday
ARE lesbian love affairs always full of drama and tension? Do dykes always date seriously then proceed to rent one place and move in together after their first movie and dinner?
To answer these existentialist questions, Pinay-American filmmaker Jenny Ting grabbed a camera and made a reality documentary called "Not Straightforward" that will premiere in the Pink Film Festival 2005 at the Gateway Cineplex 10.
It's a full-house riot when cute and cuddly bon-vivant Tan Vo, 25, a self-proclaimed butch virgin, turns on the desperately romantic charm with ten different ladies from Seattle as she dates them in restaurants, going for long walks on the beach and bringing them back to her apartment.
Almost a primer for lesbian dating, "Not Straightforward" reveals how different women interact on their first dates: they talk about their goals and desires and the characteristics that are important to them in potential girlfriends. Despite its unbearable lightness, "Not Straightforward" strongly challenges viewers to confront their preconceived notions and misconceptions about lesbians and lesbian dating especially among Filipinos who have very little familiarity with lesbians in their own families.
Two short films complete the women power lineup. Promising Filipino artist Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo directed "Babae", a tale of two women who boldly redefine what family means in a community along the railroad tracks. "Babae" recently won the Milan International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival last June 1. "Silip" by Aya Mendoza quizzes a boy's rude awakening to the truth about his mother and aunt who sleep in the next room.
Meanwhile, the Pink Film Festival brings back cult filmmaker Wong Kar Wai with
"Happy Together" the non-adventures of a gay Hong Kong couple as their pathological relationship breaks up in distant Argentina
Rife with the metaphorical musings of the hopeless romantic, the movie is a paradox. The characters are not depicted as happy nor are they necessarily together despite the title. Wong described them as being like a plane and an airport always coming and going.
Lai Yiu-Fai (Leslie Chung) keeps throwing out his whorish boyfriend Ho Po-Wing (Tony Leung) into the streets. Lai becomes a doorman at a Buenos Aires tango club while Ho sells his body to different men. After finding Ho bleeding on the street beaten up by a client, Lai decides to take Ho back in an attempt to start over, but they bicker endlessly. They finally become together in reminiscences when they go home separately to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Pink Festival 2005, a weeklong film event with empowering images of gays and lesbians, celebrates with the world the annual Gay Pride Month and is presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), in cooperation with the Mowelfund Film Institute and ProGay.
With its theme "In the Pink of Health", the festival highlights the human and health rights not only of gays and lesbians but also human immunodeficiency virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV/Aids) awareness among all Filipinos.
The Pink Festival 2005 is also supported by the Canadian Embassy, the Quezon City Government, GMA 7, the Swiss Embassy, The Spanish Ministry of Culture, Casa Asia, Philippine NGO Support Program (PhaNSuP), Department of Health Family Planning and Maternal Child Health Project, Women's Educational Media, Norwegian
Film Institute, University of the Philippines Film Institute, Aids Society of the Philippines, Fahrenheit Café and Fitness Center and Italiani's Restaurant.
Asia's leading gay and lesbian web portal Fridae.com is the official media sponsor.
Visit the website www.pinkfilmfest.cjb.net for pictures and synopses of other film programs and the complete schedule. (PR)
(June 7, 2005 issue)
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