As coming out as a sexual minority is still regarded a social taboo by some in Macau, the organiser of the first-ever Macau International Queer Film Festival (MIQFF), Jay Sun, told The Macau Post Daily during an interview yesterday in a café in Areia Preta district that he hopes the public will have a different view of gays after seeing the films in the ongoing MIQFF.
The MIQFF, themed as “Let’s Get Beautiful Together Queens!”, which aims to connect civil society with film art, started on Friday and will end this coming Sunday, showcasing 17 queer-themed films from Europe and Asia including local productions.
‘Let’s Get Beautiful Together Queens!’
“The topic of LGBTQ is still so hidden, rarely being discussed in the community, and I want it to be seen,” said Sun, adding that he believed that movies have a charm that can draw people in and can increase their understanding about sexual minorities, which was the reason why Sun and his team have organised the MIQFF in the first place.
LGBTQ is an initialism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.
Sun acknowledged it has been difficult to break the taboo of being in a sexual minority in Macau. However, he has noticed local people’s increasing interest in watching films in their free time, and believed that it is approachable and affordable for the public to go to the cinema. “It’s more than just entertaining, but also it turns out the public might find it to be something they haven’t thought about in their lives”.
Sun believes that the sexual minorities in Macau experience some “unnecessary discrimination” but they only keep quiet or are not encouraged to discuss the issue openly: “I worry that if the sexual minority doesn’t speak up for themselves, the public might just pretend they don’t exist”, Sun said, which is why Sun and his team want to act as an outlet for local queers to express themselves through the MIQFF.
Sun stressed that the 17 movies being screened during the festival are “for everyone”. However, “the public seem to be slow in their mindset in terms of accepting new things,” said Sun, adding that he hoped the public would be more open-minded to embrace “something different”, and seize the opportunity to see films that are fascinating but rarely available in local movie theatres.
Self-sponsored: hard to sustain but must exist
The MIQFF, first-ever LGBTQ film festival in Macau, is sponsored by Sun himself, and Sun admits that “it will be difficult to sustain unless there is stable funding”. In particular, Sun expressed his gratitude to his team for volunteering to run the event.
However, he still wants the film-fest to continue next year and perhaps even after that, saying that he’s confident that the festival has its own uniqueness –for the sexual minority to communicate with the public, as there are few events in Macau that “fully deal with” LGBTQ elements – so that the public knows that the festival can become an annual event that “exists and must exist in this city”.
“We hope this will become a major annual event in the future, and we will never give up,” Sun said, adding that he’s trying to contribute to the LGBTQ community in his own field, and he welcomes all members of the public who are also interested in the issue of sexual minorities to contribute in their own fields as well.
Sun said that anyone who is interested can attend the ongoing festival to see one of his favourite movies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will be shown on Saturday at 9 p.m. “The film has a lot to say about how wonderful and colourful queers are and appreciates their personalities – ‘strange in a way, yet gorgeous and wild’, and Sun stressed that there will be a “surprise” for the audience on that night.
The films are being shown at the Emperor Cinemas cineplex at Lisboeta Macau in Cotai.
Anyone interested may check out the official website of Emperor Cinemas https://www.emperorcinemas.com/en/ticketing/special, to book their tickets for the festival.
This photo taken on Friday shows the opening of the Macao International Queer Film Festival (MIQFF) at the Emperor Cinemas cineplex at Lisboeta Macau in Cotai.
Jay Sun talks at the opening of the MIQFF on Friday. – All photos provided by the MIQFF
