Shanghai Queer Film Festival, (SHQFF) (), established in 2017, is an annual

LGBT ' 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 ...

film festival, based in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, the most populous city 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 ...

. The first festival was held from 16—24 September 2017. It is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit community event, offering 'a week of screenings, parties, workshops and discussions'. The festival is directed by founder Tingting Shi. There are two other separate and unconnected LGBT film festivals in the city, ''

ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival (ShPFF) (), is an annual LGBT film festival held in Shanghai, China. It was first established in 2015. ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival is one of three unconnected LGBT film festivals in the city. ''Shanghai Queer Film Festi ...

'', and

CINEMQ CINEMQ is a queer cinema collective and LGBT film festival held in Shanghai, China. CINEMQ was first established in 2015. Other festivals CINEMQ is one of three unconnected LGBT film festivals in Shanghai. The second LGBT film festival is the ...

, established in 2015.

Background

According to Shi, events in Shanghai’s vibrant queer scene are 'generally tailored to a Western sensibility.' This assertion is backed up by Dr. Hongwei Bao, who has noted that events such as ShanghaiPRIDE have a pervasive 'non-Chinese' perspective. Shanghai Queer Film Festival is run by a mostly local Chinese team, and focuses primarily on Asian film, through initiatives such as an Asian Short Film Competition, and partnerships with regional groups. Festival programmer Yu Jing argues that through such a focus, they “reveal an abundance of queer Asian characters, encourage discussion on queer culture in the East, and represent diversity the diversity of love and freedom.” The festival identifies itself as queer, rather than simply LGBT, as a way of signposting a more progressive and nuanced discussion for Chinese audiences. Shi states that "...local audiences lack a certain understanding of the real scope of our diversity, including diversity in the community, and some more recent concepts. Given this, what we tried to do when selecting films was to highlight new ideas and pick films that could spark dialogues instead of just striving for a perfectly balanced representation of different LGBTQ identities.' The week-long festival is run by a team of over 20 unpaid volunteer designers, writers, curators, marketers and others. The festival features discussion groups, workshops, talks and lectures from leading academics, as well as interactive activities and parties. Events such as panel discussions and networking sessions enable filmmakers to spread their material more widely and to connect better to audiences. As a not-for-profit, community-based festival, Shanghai Queer Film Festival is free of charge and open to the general public. The audience is encouraged to question filmmakers and explore the issues raised in the films they attend, with the festival describing its aim to provide "a week of culture, engagement and celebration".

2017

The festival theme was We Are Here. The opening night films were

Richard Fung Richard Fung (born 1954) is a video artist, writer, public intellectual and theorist who currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and is openly gay. Fung is a professor at OCAD University. He earned a ...

's documentaries on the changing face of queer Asian identity in Canada ''Orientations'' and ''Re:Orientations''. Other screenings included '' Tale of the Lost Boys'', '' Lan Yu'', ''Starting Over'' and Indian documentary ''Breaking Free''. SHQFF Best Short Film prize was awarded to Kaj Palanca and Jared Joven for ''Contestant #4''. Interviewed by Inquirer, Joven stated that the win “keeps me inspired to tell more stories that are special to people like me…in the most honest way.”

2018

The festival theme was Generation Q, showing the connection between different generations of filmmakers in the 20 years since the birth of Chinese queer cinema. The opening night film was '' Hard Paint.'' Other screenings included ''Saving Face'', '' Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, Beautiful Men'' (Chinese: 人面桃花) and ''Extravaganza'' (Chinese: 炫目上海滩). The Generation Q conference held during the festival discussed future paths for queer filmmakers in East Asia. Guests included filmmakers

Dean Hamer Dean Hamer (; born May 29, 1951) is an American geneticist. He is known for his research on the role of genetics in sexual orientation and for a series of popular books and documentaries that have changed the understanding and perceptions of hu ...

and Joe Wilson, presenting ''

Leitis in Waiting ''Leitis In Waiting'' is a 2018 feature-length documentary about transgender rights in Tonga. It was produced and directed by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. The filmmakers previously explored trans rights in the Pacific in th ...

''.

Awards

* Best Film SHQFF 2017 * Best Director SHQFF 2017 * Best Cinematography SHQFF 2017 * Best Editing SHQFF 2017 * Best Screenplay SHQFF 2017 * Best Actor SHQFF 2017

References

External links