East Palace West Palace
''East Palace, West Palace'' (Simplified Chinese: 东宫西宫, Pinyin: ''Dōng gōng xī gōng'') is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuan, starring Hu Jun and Si Han, and based on a short story by writer Wang Xiaobo. It is also known as ''Behind the Forbidden City'' or ''Behind the Palace Gates''. ''East Palace, West Palace'' is the first Mainland Chinese movie with an explicitly homosexual theme. The title of the movie is derived from the two parks near the Forbidden City — the East Palace and the West Palace. The two parks, specifically their public washrooms, are well-known for being places of congregation for homosexual in Beijing during the night. Plot In China, homosexuality isn't illegal, but homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for "hooliganism". The film focuses on a young gay writer called A-Lan who, being attracted to a young policeman named Xiao Shi, manages to have himself arrested and interrogated for a whole night. His life-story w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Zhang Yuan (director)
Zhang Yuan (; born October 1963) is a Chinese film director who has been described by film scholars as a pioneering member of China's Sixth Generation of filmmakers.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yuan" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 419. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 2008-08-24. He and his films have won ten awards out of seventeen nominations received at international film festivals. Feature films Born in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, Zhang received a BA in cinematography from the Beijing Film Academy in 1989. Having initially emerged onto the film scene shortly after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he is frequently referenced as an exemplar of the pioneers who are grouped into the loosely defined Sixth Generation. Despite a diploma from the prestigious Film Academy, Zhang decided to eschew his assigned position within the People's Liberation Army-connected August First Film Studio, choosing instead to produce his films indepen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Ralph Van Gelder (February 17, 1933 – March 11, 2016) was an American journalist and instructor in journalism who worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010, he was senior editor of the Arts and Leisure weekly section of ''The New York Times'', as well as a film critic. Among the newspapers for which Van Gelder worked were the ''New York Daily Mirror'', the ''New York Journal-American'' and the '' World-Journal-Tribune''. Biologist Richard Van Gelder was his brother and Gordon Van Gelder, the editor and publisher of ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', a nephew. Van Gelder graduated from Columbia University in 1953 (Columbia College (New York) and Columbia Law School). He began working at the ''Times'' in May 1967. Lawrence Van Gelder died of leiomyosarcoma Leiomyosarcoma is a malignant (cancerous) smooth muscle tumor. A benign tumor originating from the same tissue is termed leiomyoma. While leiomyosarcomas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bad Romance (film)
''Bad Romance'' (; Alt. title: ''Les Mauvais Romans'') is a mainland China 2011 independent drama film. Its English-language title was based on the song "Bad Romance", by singer-songwriter Lady Gaga. It was written and directed by first-time filmmaker François Chang, who has taken the essence of the song to create a story focussing on seven lonely individuals whose lives could be transformed after experiencing love at first sight.Bad Romance - Les Mauvais Romans Publisher: ''JamesWeggReview.org'' Published: 22 May 2011. Retrieved: 15 April 2014. The film premiered at the 27th Annual Boston LGBT Festival on 7 May 2011, and features male full-frontal nudity. The director has subsequently directed two other films: ''Chifumi'' (2013) and ''The Forgiven'' (2015). Plot The story follows seven young m ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lou Ye
Lou Ye (), born 1965, is a Chinese screenwriter-director who is commonly grouped with the " Sixth Generation" directors of Chinese cinema. Films Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film '' Weekend Lover'', but it was not released until two years later, having its world premiere at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg where it received the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award. Between completion and premiere of ''Weekend Lover'' he made and released ''Don't Be Young'', a thriller about a girl who takes her nightmares as real, in 1994. Lou, however, did not gain international prominence until his third film, the neo-noir '' Suzhou River''. That film dealt with questions of identity and proved quite controversial upon its release in China. Upon its release, international audiences praised ''Suzhou River'', which several critics felt evoked Alfred Hitchcock's ''Vertigo'', particularly in how both films focus on a man obses ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Spring Fever (2009 Film)
''Spring Fever'' is a 2009 Chinese/French film directed by Lou Ye. The production of the film is in defiance of a five-year ban on filmmaking imposed by China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) for his previous film, ''Summer Palace''. Filmed in Nanjing, the film was described to be about a young threesome overcome with erotic longings. By the time of the film's premiere at the Cannes Festival on 13 May 2009, it was known that Lou had circumvented the five-year ban imposed upon him after ''Summer Palace'' by having ''Spring Fever'' registered as a Hong Kong/French co-production. Plot The story begins in Nanjing. Suspecting that her husband Wang Ping is cheating on her, Lin Xue hires an unemployed photographer named Luo Haitao to follow him. Indeed, Wang is having a steamy affair with Jiang Cheng, a gay man. Lin confronts Wang and storms into Jiang's office to make a scene. Jiang cuts off all contact with Wang. Jiang becomes depressed and sleeps with Luo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
My Fair Son
''My Fair Son'' () is a 2005 Chinese gay-themed film (first released for public exhibition in the United States in 2009), by Chinese film director Cui Zi'en.Queering Chinese Comrades - Through the Lens of Director Cui Zi Audrey Tse. ''www.academia.edu''. Retrieved: 25 April 2014. The main characters are Rui (Ray) and the object of his affection, Bo, an employee of his father. The film contains full-frontal male nudity. Plot A teenage boy, Ray, returns home from a life with his grandfather to live with his father, after they have been estranged for several years. During the period of their estrangement, Ray spent much of his youth rebelling against his father's lifestyle. After he enrolls in an art school, Ray becomes romanticall ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Cui Zi'en
Cui Zi'en (), born 1958, in Harbin in the People's Republic of China, is a film director, producer, film scholar, screenwriter, novelist and an outspoken LGBT activist based in Beijing. He graduated from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences with an MA in literature and now is an associate professor at the Film Research Institute of the Beijing Film Academy. Cui Zi'en is one of the avant-garde DV makers in Chinese underground film. He has published nine novels in China and Hong Kong, one of which, ''Uncle's Past'', won the 2001 ''Radio Literature Award'' in Germany. In the same year, he founded the Beijing Queer Film Festival, the first LGBT film festival in mainland China. He is also the author of books on criticism and theory, as well as a columnist for magazines. Recognition In 2002, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission ( IGLHRC) presented the Felipa de Souza Award to Cui Zi'en. Cui brought issues of same-sex love into Chinese culture and public awar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Star Appeal (film)
''Star Appeal'' (星星相吸惜) is a 2004 Chinese gay-themed science fiction film (first released for public exhibition in the United States in 2008), by Chinese film director Cui Zi'en. The film was recorded on video rather than film, using a series of long, static shots. The main characters are ''E.T.'' and his Chinese friend, Xiao Bo, and the film reveals the full-frontal nudity of both characters. Audrey Tse. ''www.academia.edu''. Retrieved: 16 March 2014. Plot Coming alone from Mars to the Earth, ET is brought home by Xiao Bo. Xiao Bo’s girlfriend, Wenwen, does not believe that ET is an alien, while Xiao Bo’s boyfriend, Xiao Jian, is simply skeptical. However, Xiao Bo is convince ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Stanley Kwan
Stanley Kwan (traditional Chinese: 關錦鵬; simplified Chinese: 关锦鹏); born 9 October 1957) is a Hong Kong film director and producer. Kwan landed a job at TVB after receiving a mass communications degree at Hong Kong Baptist College. Kwan's first film was ''Women'' (1985), which starred Chow Yun-fat, and was a big box-office success. Kwan's films often deal sympathetically with the plight of women and their struggles with romantic affairs of the heart. ''Rouge'' (1987), ''Full Moon in New York'' (1989), ''Center Stage'' (1992; a.k.a. ''Actress''), a biopic on silent film star Ruan Lingyu and ''Everlasting Regret'' (2005), are all such typical Kwan films. ''Red Rose White Rose'' (1994) is an adaptation of an Eileen Chang novel. The film was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival. His 1998 film '' Hold You Tight'' won the Alfred Bauer Prize and Teddy Award at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival. Kwan came out as a gay man in 1996 in ''Yang ± ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lan Yu (film)
: Lan Yu ''is also the Chinese name for Orchid Island.'' ''Lan Yu'' () is a 2001 gay-themed Hong Kong- Mainland Chinese film set in Beijing by Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan. Background The movie is based on a novel published anonymously on the Internet in 1998. The filming itself took place in Beijing, without government permission. The movie, which was directed by Stanley Kwan, tells a romantic and tragic love story of two men. It is based on the Chinese novel 北京故('’Běijīng gùshì'’, '' Beijing Story'') by an author identified only as a 北京同志 ('’Běijīng tóngzhì'’, Beijing Comrade), " tongzhi" being a term that today is often used to refer to gay and lesbian identities in China. Since this work contained positive depictions of gay men, explicit (by Chinese standards) gay sex scenes, and resurrected the ghost of Tiananmen Square, at the time, no mainland Chinese publisher would have dared to publish it, nor would the author be safe from governmen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Liu Bingjian
Liu Bingjian (born October 16, 1963, in Anhui) is a Chinese film director who emerged on the cinema scene in the late 1990s with his LGBT-themed film ''Men and Women''. Career Originally trained as a painter, Liu attended the prestigious Beijing Film Academy where he studied cinematography. Upon graduation, he switched to directing and worked in television before making his first film ''Inkstone'' which failed to be screened either in China or abroad. In 1999, he directed the underground LGBT film ''Men and Women (1999 film), Men and Women''. Though the film was banned in China, it was seen as a rare example of a Chinese film to treat homosexuality as an everyday occurrence. Liu followed up ''Men and Women'' with ''Cry Woman'' in 2002. Like many of his colleagues, Liu Bingjian emerged from the underground scene with 2004's state-approved ''Plastic Flowers'', starring actress Liu Xiaoqing in her first role in over a decade. The film premiered at the 2004 Toronto International F ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Men And Women (1999 Film)
''Men and Women'' () is a 1999 Chinese comedy-drama film directed by Liu Bingjian. The film was co-written by Cui Zi'en, one of the few openly gay writers in China. Cui also has a cameo-role in the film, as the host of an underground radio show. One of China's few films touching on LGBT-films, ''Men and Women'' was cast with openly gay actors. Unlike earlier films like Zhang Yuan's ''East Palace, West Palace'', ''Men and Women'' focused on the daily lives of its characters, rather than their underground existence in Chinese society. The film won a FIPRESCI award at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. Plot ''Men and Women'' follows the travels of a young homosexual man, Xiao Bo, who goes to Beijing in search of a job. There he is taken in by Qing Jie, who not only gives him a home in her apartment, but also a job in her clothing store. While she tries to set Xiao Bo with her friend A Meng, Xiao Bo resists and eventually moves out when he is assaulted by Qing Jie's husb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |