This year’s edition of the New York Asian Film Festival, the 25th, includes a “Queer Unbound” program showcasing a handful of LGBTQ features from across Asia and its diaspora. There are also a few queer-themed shorts and a 10-year anniversary screening of Andrew Ahn’s “Spa Night.” Here is a rundown of what queer films to catch at this year’s fest.
The marvelous Joan Chen will be honored at the New York Asian Film Festival with the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award. Chen is luminous in her new film, “Montreal, My Beautiful” (July 12 at 3:00 pm, Film at Lincoln Center with a Q&A: and July 14 at 12:30 pm, Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center). This gentle romantic drama stars Chen as Feng Xia, a married, menopausal Chinese immigrant in Montreal who has an affair with Lisa (Charlotte Aubin), a 30-year-old she meets on a dating app. Feng Xia is shy about her same-sex desires, but after a few encounters, including one where both women are honest with each other — Lisa confesses her real name is Camille — a strong bond develops between them. Their secret romance gives Feng Xia a much-needed confidence boost, but it also strains her relationship with her husband, Wang Jun (John Xu), who becomes more controlling and abusive. Chen gives a lovely, sensitive performance. Writer/director Xiaodan He’s film is glossy and takes it time to tell its story, but it is sure to melt some hearts.
The shorts program “Pressure Points” (July 16, 3:00 pm, Walter Reade Theater) includes “Correct Me If I’m Wrong,” by non-binary director Hao Zhou. This film chronicles Zhou’s family’s efforts to “cure” them of their homosexuality. The filmmaker’s grandmother tries exorcising the “she-boy,” hoping to extract female energy through a series of rituals, prayers, and practices, including a “corn cure,” cupping, and qigong treatments. Zhou’s participation is largely passive; they endure these various sessions to appease their mother and grandmother who both want them to get married and have children, but it is clear they will not and cannot change — especially when they express to their grandmother, “A fag will remain a fag.” “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” is a fascinating short about a cultural kind of conversion therapy. Moreover, it suggests Zhou’s family must be the ones to modify their thinking, not Zhou.
“Devils in the Bush” in the “Korean Shorts” program (July 18, 3:00 pm, Korean Cultural Center), has Fae (Jae Cheung), a trans woman dealing with phone calls from both her mother, whom she has not seen in some time, and her possible cheating boyfriend. At 7 minutes, this is a slight short, but Cheung, who cowrote the film with director Juliet Belisario, delivers an affecting performance.
Director Chan Sze-Wei’s joyful documentary, “10s Across the Borders” (July 19, 7:00 pm, SVA Theatre), is a deep dive into the ballroom culture in Southeast Asia as experienced by three performers. In Manila, the 2023 Rainbow Ball showcases the trailblazing Xyza Pinklady Mizrahi, who is fighting for equality and “being recognized for who you are.” She acknowledges and respects the history of ballroom, which began in New York City by the Black and Latinx LGBTQ community, and scenes of her voguing on the Brooklyn Bridge are charming. In Malaysia, Teddy Oricci has founded a House to help others and provide them with the opportunity to realize their dreams and hopes. Teddy ran away from his homophobic father, gets arrested for “posing as a woman,” and talks about contracting HIV. But he is incredibly upbeat, and when he is voguing in Times Square or competes in a New York ball, it is electrifying. Rounding out the documentary is Sun, a mixed-race (half Thai and half Norwegian) artist whose performances are political and purposeful. He and his friend Ian talk about the early days of ballroom in 2016, but “10s Across the Borders” also has the subjects look at the future of the community and developing the next generation of performers. This is a celebratory portrait and the voguing is, as one would expect, fabulous. Director Chan Sze-Wei and featured talent will introduce the film and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
“Cyclone” (July 22, 8:45 pm, Walter Reade Theater) is the nickname for Ye Jingjian (Yuqiao Liu), a transgender sex worker in Hong Kong who is on a waiting list for her gender-reassignment surgery. She suffers a series of indignities, from various clients belittling her to being denied work because she is trans. Cyclone finds some comfort and intimacy with Bian (Edwynn Li), a drug dealer, as well as Xaiomei (Jenny Suen), another sex worker. But she is haunted by her past and flashbacks show her as a young boy wanting to be female and as a young adult being forced to undergo electroshock therapy to “cure” her. “Cyclone” is uneven as it shifts back and forth in time and between Ye Jingjian’s happiness and pain, but Yuqiao Liu make her a character who engenders empathy and compassion. The film is gutsy and hopeful, just like its heroine. Director Philip Yung and screenwriter Annabelle Kayee Li will introduce the film and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
“Girlfriends” (July 23, 6;00 pm, Walter Reade Theater) is a semi-autobiographical drama by director Tracy Choi in which she chronicles three relationships in reverse chronological order. The film almost plays like three short films that are connected emotionally. The first episode, set in Hong Kong, has Lok (Fish Liew), Choi’s alter ego, a filmmaker struggling personally and professionally. Unable to make her second film, she teaches to make ends meet and lives with her girlfriend Bei (Jennifer Yu), who wants to buy property, get married, and have children. As Lok is processing the viability of these commitments, “Girlfriends” jumps back in time to 2010 when she was Choi (Elizabeth Tang), a student in Taiwan who is dating Kai-ching (Han Ning). They have a passionate relationship, and Choi comes out to her parents during this time, but the couple’s relationship hits a snag when Kai-ching hopes Choi will move back to Macao with her after college. The last segment takes place in 2006, when Lok (Natalie Hsu) is a teenager crushed on her classmate’s sister, Faye (Eliz Lao Yee-lum). Faye encourages Lok to study in Taiwan, rather than follow her parents’ wish for her to go to school in Macao. Each episode informs the others, but as compelling as “Girlfriends” is, the film feels like Choi has made a drama about how and why she came to doubt her intuition. The parts feel greater than the whole. Tracy Choi will introduce the film and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Writer/director Joon-ho Park’s fantastic debut, the Korean drama, “3670,” (July 25, 1:15 pm, SVA Theater) has a clever premise as its protagonist Cheol-jun (You-hyun Cho) is a gay defector from North Korea discovering life and himself in Seoul. While he spends his days working at a convenience store, studying for college, and spending time with his compatriots, he starts to break away and investigate the city’s gay scene. After he meets Yeong-jun (Hyun-mok Kim) at a mixer, the two young men develop a sweet friendship, and Yeong-jun gives Cheol-jun some guidance. An attraction soon develops, but as they meet up with other gay men, using the code 3670 in a group chat, jealousies and self-doubts arise. The handsome Cheol-jun is shy — he resists singing karaoke and dancing — but at his first time at a gay club, he is coaxed into taking off his shirt and putting on a harness and entering a backroom. As he is exposed to these newfound freedoms, Cheol-jun makes some decisions about how he wants to live and who he wants to be with. Melancholic in its tone, “3670” benefits from the magnetic You-hyun Cho’s deeply moving performance. In his film debut, the actor captures the palpable loneliness and despair of a gay young man coming to terms with his desires but also how he embraces liberation. In one of the more poignant subplots, Cheol-jun tries to connect with other gay defectors, hoping to find someone who understands and shares his experiences. The film is a kind of coming out story, but it is distinguished by its novel story and told with remarkable sensitivity and grace.
The New York Asian Film Festival also includes a special screening of out gay writer/director Andrew Ahn’s 2006 feature debut, “Spa Night” (July 25, 4:00 pm, SVA Theater). In this complex, quietly powerful drama about ethnicity and gay identity, David (Joe Seo) is a closeted young man who secretly takes a job at a Korean spa. The experience transforms him, and David slowly embraces his sexuality and moves towards independence from his family. Ahn will introduce the film and participate in a post-screening Q&A with Bowen Yang.
Two films playing at the festival were not available for preview. Herman Yau’s “We’re Nothing at All,” a feature that revolves around a gay couple involved in a crime investigation, and “Si Shui (Still Water)” in the “Spirited Away” shorts program, which concerns a woman who insists her employer’s unborn child is her late sister.
“The New York Asian Film Festival” | July 10-26 at various locations | For tickets, showtimes, and more information, visit nyaff.org.
