Madeleine Lim (born 11 May 1964) is a filmmaker, producer, director, cinematographer and

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activist. She is the founding Executive Director of the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP), and an adjunct professor of film studies at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

. Lim is also a co-founder of SAMBAL (Singaporean & Malaysian Bisexual Women and Lesbians) and the US Asian Lesbian Network in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

Early life and education

Madeleine Lim was born in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 11 May 1964. Her mother was born in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and adopted by Singaporean parents when she was 6, and her father was born in Malacca, and is of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Portuguese descent. At the age of nine, Lim's parents separated. Her mother later remarried to Lim's half-German and half-Spanish stepfather. She lived with her parents until she was 23 years old. Lim studied at the

Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus The Sisters of the Infant Jesus, also known as the Dames of Saint Maur, are a religious institute of the Catholic Church originating from Paris, France and dedicated to teaching. History Origins In 1659 Barré, who was a respected scholar wi ...

for her primary and secondary school education. She then went to

Catholic Junior College Catholic Junior College (CJC) () is a junior college in Singapore, offering a two-year course for pre-university students leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level examination. Founded in 1975, Catholic Junior College was the third j ...

and finished her diploma in the College of Physical Education. At the age of 23, she moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

to escape persecution by the Singaporean government for her work as a young lesbian artist-activist. She holds a B.A. in Cinema from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

, where she was awarded Outstanding Cinema Student of the Year. Since 2004, she has been an adjunct professor of film studies at the

Activism

In 1984, Lim, who was 20 years old at the time, ran an underground lesbian feminist newsletter in Singapore for two years. In 1985, a women's discussion group called the "NUS weekly tea group for womyn" was started at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

and Lim became actively involved in its activities, facilitating the weekly discussions and writing articles for its newsletter. Around the same time, Lim became actively involved in Singapore's feminist organization,

Association of Women for Action and Research The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) is a not-for-profit organisation that advocates for gender equality and provides critical support services for women in Singapore. It is a registered charity with Institute of Public Charac ...

. In 1987, AWARE organized a dinner in celebration of

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

. For the event, Lim co-wrote and directed a skit called the "Myth Pageant Beauty Contest," a spoof on the "Miss Pageant Beauty Contest." Shortly after the dinner, the Singapore government arrested Lim's co-author during

Operation Spectrum Operation Spectrum, also known as the 1987 "Marxist Conspiracy", was the code name for a covert security operation that took place in Singapore on 21 May 1987. Sixteen people were arrested and detained without trial under Singapore's Internal ...

, where sixteen people of a mix of Catholic lay workers, social workers, overseas-educated graduates, theatre practitioners and professionals were arrested and detained without trial under Singapore's

Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to: * Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law *Internal Security Act (Singapore) * McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law *Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, rename ...

(ISA) for their alleged involvement in a Marxist conspiracy. Fearing persecution for her work, Lim left Singapore for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, USA in 1987 and eventually made her way to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. In 1996, Lim made ''Sambal Belacan in San Francisco''. In 1998,

Singapore International Film Festival The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore. Founded in 1987, the festival has a focus on showcasing international films and providing a global platform for ...

(SGIFF) invited Lim to screen ''Sambal Belacan in San Francisco'' during the festival. However, the film was not given a rating by Singapore Board of Film Censors until after the screening date whereby SGIFF was informed that it was banned in Singapore. In 2000, Lim founded the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP) in San Francisco, "with the belief that a community of artist-activist leaders could change the face of filmmaking and the social justice movement." As the founding Executive/Artistic Director, Lim continues to direct the organization's vision and provides artistic direction for all QWOCMAP programs. Lim is also a co-founder of SAMBAL (Singaporean & Malaysian Bisexual Women and Lesbians) and the US Asian Lesbian Network in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA. Her films, which have a large focus on the adversity faced by the

and Asian Pacific Islander community, have screened at sold-out theaters at international film festivals around the world, including the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

Mill Valley Film Festival The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977. History In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...

, and Amnesty International Film Festival. Her work has also been featured at museums and universities, and broadcast on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

to over 2.5 million viewers. In 2020, Lim's film, ''Sambal Belacan in San Francisco'', was finally allowed a limited viewing during the SGIFF.

Awards and honors

* 1997 Award of Excellence from the San Jose Film & Video Commission's Joey Awards * 1998 National Educational Media Network Bronze Apple Award * 2000-2003 California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence * 2005 LGBT Local Hero Award from KQED-TV * 2006 APAture Asian American Arts Festival Featured Filmmaker * 2007 DreamSpeaker Award from Purple Moon Dance Project * 2010 Phoenix Award from APIQWTC * 2011 Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Award * 2013 State Farm Good Neighbor Award * 2013 Audience Award at the Queer Women of Color Film Festival (for the film The Worlds of Bernice Bing) * Three time recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission's Individual Artist Commission

Published Work/Films

* ''Sambal Belacan in San Francisco'' (1996) * ''Shades of Grey'' (1996) * ''Youth Organizing: Power Through Art'' (1996) * ''A Vision of Smart Growth'' (2002) * ''Dragon Desire'' (2004) * ''The Worlds of Bernice Bing'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Madeleine American people of Singaporean descent Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area American LGBT rights activists Singaporean lesbians American filmmakers San Francisco State University alumni University of San Francisco faculty Living people LGBT people from California American people of Indian descent American people of Chinese descent American people of Malay descent American people of Portuguese descent American people of Malaysian descent American LGBT people of Asian descent 1964 births