Queer Film and Video Festival

2003 School of the Art Institute of Chicago

festival info program 1 program 2 program 3 program 4 program 5 program 6 program 7 program 8 contact info home		Program 2 Oriental DIVA 24th April, 5:00pm, Auditorium, 2nd floor, 280 South Columbus Drive Curated by The Hong Kong Art Center, one of the most important art organizations of independent cinemas in Hong Kong, Oriental DIVA, brings us 7 award-winning short films of various genres from their annual Hong Kong Independent Film and Video Award. Ranging from animation, fictional narrative, music videos, and documentary to experimental pieces, the program presents a panoramic view to the achievements of female directors of our time.* ID Ellen Yuen, 1997 Micro-short animation. Solarized claymation footage with 3 gendered chairs, and a person faced with choosing between the three. Love Is Alpha Chan, 1999 A ballad-y riff on the travails of bisexuality. Or is this a riff-y ballad on the travails of a lesbian who goes temporarily bi? Or is this a travail-y riff on the ballad of a lesbian who goes temporarily hetero? Bittersweet Hong Kong pop music guides this simple video about a girl in a suit who dances ballroom style with a woman and meets a man on the sly. 17 1/2 Son, 1999 Emotive surveillance footage of a broken hearted dyke in Hong Kong. Time literally collapses as her motions become pixelized in fast forward moment(ums), when lighting a cigarette becomes a meaningless act filling the emptiness after a broken affair. Her pain and fractured heart-time are deftly manifested through this storytelling’s technology. The video slowly crescendos into almost post-apocalyptic introspection, as she waits in the crowded city, hopelessly for her lover to return. The charm of this elongated examination of heartbreak lies in the meaningful acts, like getting drunk till sick on sugar cane juice because there’s no wine. “Have you ever seen anyone get sick on sugar cane juice?” No, but it is sweet, sweet pain. There is no sound, and this is maybe the only drawback. It does add to the voyeuristic, poetic quality, but the silence becomes inexpressive as the pain becomes more and more unbearable. I wanted to hear the city that was devouring her, I wanted to hear her heartbeat… Angels Wake Up Rita Hui, 1998 In a crazy city like Hong Kong, the night after a hectic day seems to be the perfect time to contemplate, to look into oneself and get lost. Angel has been wandering in the sleepless city for nights to escape from her home, her boyfriend, her job and ultimately, her very own existence. One night she has a brief encounter with Wai, a young school girl, and develops a mutual loving relationship with her. Their nightly drifting serves as an existential journey for Angel, who then returns to her original identity and wipes out her real self as an “angel”. Beautifully shot and well-executed, Angel Wakes Up is a spiritual exploration of the loneliness and emptiness of city life. Na William Tang, 1998 Twins, alter-egos, lovers? Who are these two women that open and close this elliptical video? Space is fragmented, and vertically dismembered with clever cinematography, creating a sense of vertigo. The sound is gorgeous, creating a timeless, eerie space- outer space, or inner space. A woman exists in the many spaces of a room. Then she exists knee-deep in a stream that hearkens a Tarkovsky film with an electrical whir as the soundscape. Time, space, and identity are all manipulated deftly in this video. * the screening of "I am staving" and "Suet-Sin's Sister" are canceled, until further notice.