In 1994, when Max Almy showed us Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” in her experimental film class at UCLA, I had already seen “Meshes” in another experimental class at Berkeley as an undergraduate. Since the first time I saw it, I have never forgotten how mysterious, surreal and emotional it is. So when we had to do a project in Max’s class, I knew I had to pay tribute to the masterpiece by making my own version about two gay vampires.
With both “Meshes” and Luis Buñuel’s “Un Chien Andalou” in mind, I wanted to make something about a young gay couple stuck in a stagnating relationship so I thought vampirism would be a good metaphor. And to frame their relationship somehow I saw this lonely drag queen who exists in a parallel universe. That was sort of the idea. Continue reading →
The inspiration of “Matricide” came about a couple months before Christmas when my ex-boyfriend and I argued about where we should spend our Christmas… in Hong Kong or Taiwan… in LA or Orange County… with my mom or your mom? I suddenly realized that the central figure in both of our lives were our moms. For a long time, even though my mom was more emotionally available she wasn’t quite sympathetic to my being gay. And I really hated her for that.
My mother was controlling and manipulative. So she became my inspiration for “Matricide,” my 410 project at UCLA after “Hysterio Passio.” I wrote the script in Hal Ackerman’s screenwriting class and when I asked him for feedback he said, “I wouldn’t change a word. It’s perfect.” Really? I totally did not believe my professor. I was thought that he probably didn’t want to deal with this crazy gay Asian filmmaker. So I p0lished it up during that painful Christmas I spent with my ex-boyfriend whom I knew was breaking up with me… and I finished that script in the cold of New York when I went to help him settle down there for good over Christmas break.
I know this is going get an X rating. But it’s not hard. And it’s my penis. I don’t know how I convinced myself to have done it, but I put my penis in my own first ever short film I made at UCLA Film School. This is probably the very same short film that Dustin Lance Black kept teasing me about every time I bumped into him at some queer cocktail party.
Stop it, Dustin! But what a perfect COCK-tail party icebreaker, right?
My first assignment at film school was to shoot a 2—5 min. 16mm film in 4 hours. It was really a camera exercise for our upcoming 410 project. What a 2—5 minute film can you make but an experimental queer short film, right? I was very much inspired by my late Shakespeare professor Janet Adelman’s lecture on King Lear and so I decided to make a short film about the Renaissance term for male hysteria, “Hysterio Passio,” quoted directly from a King Lear speech. I was living with my ex-boyfriend then during the first year of film school and of course I had to put him in it. Continue reading →
All of these words describe my favorite Korean treats: Soju, Korean Bar-B-Que, and Andrew Ahn.
I first met Andrew Ahn at the 2011 Outfest mixer last year. He walked up to me and I was thinking, “Why is this tall, slender Korean male approaching me?” I’m usually mistaken for either Chris Evan’s body double or to be told that the way I’m staring at them is making their girlfriend uncomfortable, so I was prepared for what he had to ask. It turned out we had a lot of mutual friends in common and he was there for the premiere of his latest short film, Andy.
His CalArts thesis film, Dol (First Birthday), produced in Los Angeles, CA, has been officially selected as part of the Short Narrative Fiction Competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Dol is about a Korean-American man living with his boyfriend who finds himself yearning for a life out of reach at his nephew’s first birthday party – a dol.
The inspiration for the film is just as beautiful as the story itself – Andrew used this film to come out to his parents. About as dramatic and heart-stopping as the Korean soap operas I watch on Hulu – Andrew cast his own parents in the film without telling them what the story was about.
Move over, Boys Before Flowers.
When Andrew told me he got into Sundance it went something like this:
Andrew: So, I’m going to Sundance.
Me: Oh that’s cool! Are you going to see any films?
Andrew: Yeah… Mine.
Me: … O_o
I knew I had to talk to Andrew directly about this, so I picked the most hipster coffee shop in Silverlake, Intelligentsia, where we both wore plaid button ups, skinny jeans and slipons and drank $5 coffee.
One unexpected afternoon during my film school daze in my sunbathed Koreatown apartment, I received a call from the festival director of the Vancouver International Film Festival on my cordless phone.
“Is it going to be a world premiere?” asked Po Chu.
“Yeah…” I stammered. I guessed I had never shown my “first feature” Flow, a compilation of my student short films made at UCLA anywhere yet. I put “first feature” in quotes because I later decided that it was more of a feature compilation of my works as a graduate film student at UCLA rather than a real feature film.
From the Goofoffs comes this zany and brilliant music video “Black Book” complete with a retro late 80s / early 90s camp. There is something winning and endearing about this ghetto-fabulous music video that has so much fun that current pop doesn’t and takes itself way too seriously. Yes, it is quite fabulous!
I gotta say this is a very funny and truthful article on Gawker.com: The Secrets Gay Men Don’t Want Straight People to Know. Have we become so mainstream and stereotypical really? I think we should also do “The Secrets Lesbians Don’t Want Straight People To Know!”
Have you ever thought of learning Chinese? A few years back, I took the craziest Chinese class at Los Angeles City College and I decided to make a documentary out of my experience. After showing it at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, I completely forgot about the short but I just recently found the drive. It was the funnest Chinese class I have taken as my most queerious classmate Drew Bird—a filmmaker, musician, and hat maker—was really the star of the show. She is just one of the most fabulous characters I’ve met! And here’s Webisode 1 of “A Chinese Class” and don’t miss Drew’s discussion of bisexuality in Webisode 3!
This has got to be one of the most brilliant straight queer short film I’ve seen about a straight guy who ordered a $73 dollar prostitute who turns out to be… Blueberry! Written by and starring the ultra-talented Randall Park from The People I’ve Slept With, “Blueberry” is brilliant and reveals how a straight guy and a gay prostitute can spend a hilarious and moving night together. Happy New Year!
According to a baby boomer or early Generation-Xer, here’s the gayest thing he has ever seen on the television. It’s the late fabulous Liberace with Terry-Thomas on the American tube in the late 80s. But is it queerious?
Dennis Gansel’s We Are the Night is almost the best lesbian vampire flick… or perhaps one of the best vampire flicks in years. A young thievish girl stumbles into a lesbian club in Berlin and gets bitten by a female vampire who is the leader of a gang of three Amazonian vampires. According to our vampire girls, male vampires have extinguished themselves because of in-fighting or fighting with humans. It’s doubtlessly Amazonian, wouldn’t you say?
Please excuse my absence for the last few months as I was occupied by making my short film Memory of a Butterfly. As some of you may remember, my first Queerious post ever was about LGBT in Nepal and the documentary, Other Nature, directed by a dear friend of mine, Miss Nani Sahra Walker. As the film is now near its completion and is currently seeking a distributor in Europe and the U.S., it’s only fitting for my return to Queerious with an interview with the talented Miss Walker, who worked with me on our film Coming in From the Cold, which premiered at the British Film Institute and Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
Other Nature is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the life experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and third gender community of Nepal, as the country transitions to a federal republic after 240 years of monarchy. More specifically, it documents the pilgrimage two third gender human right activists make to Muktinath, a temple in the Himalayas, to pray for gender equality. The stories of a runaway lesbian couple from Kolkata and another lesbian couple that was unjustly discharged from the Nepali Army are also included; while the challenges faced by third gender sex workers highlight the struggles faced by the LGBT community in Nepal to realize their right to self-determination. The film has been screened in a dozen cities from Vancouver, Brussels to Mumbai.
Tin Lee: Would you tell us more about Third Gender? How does it differ from lesbian, gay and bisexuals if there are any differences?
Nani Sahra Walker: Third Gender is a term used historically in both the East and the West to refer to transgender individuals. In the Hindu Vedic texts,Tritriya Prakriti appears as a distinct gender identification, Third or Other Nature. Tritriya Prakriti emerges time and again in Hindu mythology from the Vedas to the Ramayana and Mahabharata (something like the Odyssey and Iliad of India, only 10-fold in length).
While in the West, third gender would be equated to “transgender,” in Nepal most butch women consider themselves “third gender” and even a lot of gay men who appeared as guys during the day, considered themselves third gender because they liked to dress up at night.
TL: What is the inspiration for the project?
NSW: OTHER NATURE emerged as a curiosity about how a country like Nepal considered “impoverished” and “medieval” by Western media became the first in the world to grant third gender citizenship and make such advancements in human rights issues.
In 2001 I read that a small organization was organized for the rights of sexual minorities – Blue Diamond Society. It was a glimmer of a new beginning, a possibility for radical change and a step towards advancement. I followed the Blue Diamond Society online for many years. In 2008 when the Supreme Court passed a legislation protecting the rights of the LGBT community and granting third gender citizenship, I knew I had to go to Nepal and make a film. Much of the representation of Nepal has always been centered on the Himalayas, either exotifying the mountains or focusing on the poverty.
TL: Can you tell us more about the Blue Diamond Society?
NSW: Blue Diamond Society was founded in 2001 by Sunil Babu Pant and a handful of people who felt the need to protect LGBT rights in Nepal. After monarchy toppled, there were a lot of people standing up for their rights like women, low-caste and indigenous groups that had all been squelched under the 240 year regime. It was the right moment to start an LGBT organization and demand freedom and equality!
TL: The pilgrimage to Muktinah, was it difficult?
NSW: Well, we were lucky that the roads were built by that time. Just a decade ago, there were no roads to Muktinath, so it would have been a really tough journey, weeks of walking. But surely, it was a difficult journey especially because we traveled in May on the cusp of monsoon and there were a lot of floods along the way. At one point, I remember it was like an obstacle course. On a dirt road along the hillside, we spent one afternoon laying rocks on the flooded roads, already a detour from the towns we avoided due to riots and demonstrations.
The journey Bhumika and Badri take to Muktinath is by and large the axis on which this project rests. We traveled 9 days on unpaved flooded roads, trying our best to beat the rains before landslides would make it impossible to bear the terrain. The road trip put us up against all the forces of nature, and tested our intentions. The journey is much like the process of attaining equal rights.
TL: Did you feel that was also a pilgrimage for yourself?
NSW: Yes, not for much for religious factors but to take such a journey and realize what’s at stake. A 14-year old boy was killed by a falling boulder along the road just 5 minutes before us after we returned shooting Badri’s village. This stirred a lot of silence and awe. What it takes to want something so bad and how along the way, it’s all about the process.
TL: Were you raised in Nepal? Do you feel that Nepal is where your roots are?
I was born in Nepal and came to the US when I was 10. I feel a strong connection to Nepal in the sense that all my childhood memories take me back to Nepal. But, of course my adolescence and higher education was completed in the US and Japan so I don’t have a sense of belonging solely to Nepal, or solely to the US. My roots are everywhere and nowhere.
TL: Given the subject matter, did you encounter any problems while filming in Nepal?
NSW: We had many heads turn especially during the shoot but all in all we had a smooth production experience. Nepal has a small but vibrant production industry. We found people were kind, helpful and full of good spirits.
TL: Ah that’s always nice to hear. What was the most perilous situations you found yourself in while filming there?
NSW: While we were shooting the sex workers, we found ourselves in the crossfire between the police, the mafia and the sex workers. It was pretty scary some nights, and on our last night the police made a SPECIAL warning that we would be arrested if we are seen shooting in these parts again. I guess, it was like a territorial war because our cameras protected the sex workers in a way from the usual harassment and violence used to crack down on prostitution.
TL: How is the state of affairs for LGBT community in Nepal now?
NSW: It is all a process, so it continues. Although Nepal might look like an advanced country on paper, in law, there’s no constitution in place so it’s a pretty chaotic place and I think the LGBT community continues to work and create more visibility and understanding. Sunil Babu Pant is in the process of opening an LGBT center in Kathmandu so I think this will help as a place of refuge, building and solidifying.
TL: Was it difficult to find funding?
NSW: Funding independent films always requires imagination, desire, courage and persistence. I worked 3 jobs to save the first lump sum and then a few fundraisers. I had a lot of support so I feel grateful. As we’re In the process of distribution now, it’s the same kind of game. I think crowd-funding platforms are a great resource for independent filmmakers.
TL: What advice would you give to struggling indie queer filmmakers when they set out to do a project of their own?
NSW: Have a clear idea of your project, put your plan on paper and give 200%. Seek like-minded people to collaborate with and connect with an umbrella organization for tools and resources. Be patient and persistent.
What’s a queer film that hits you right in the gut? I’m talking about that film that made you come out, or reaffirm who you are. For me that film is Beautiful Thing (1996), the tender coming of age story between a young outcast and a high school jock who fall in love with each other in the outskirts of London. It was a straightforward romance! When that film came out, I was on my way to becoming a geologist. I didn’t know what to pursue and a career in the sciences seem like a good option that would set the bar for my siblings, and satisfy my parents.
In 1994, when Max Almy showed us Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” in her experimental film class at UCLA, I had already seen “Meshes” in another experimental class at Berkeley as an undergraduate. Since the first time I saw it, I have never forgotten how mysterious, surreal and emotional it is. So when we had to do a project in Max’s class, I knew I had to pay tribute to the masterpiece by making my own version about two gay vampires.
