Asian/Pacific lesbian/bisexual related films

Last edited - January 23, 1996

Andaz
	1949 Mehboob 
	2 dykes sing of Khush love.

Bugis Street
        Yeung Fan, Director
        1995 : Hong Kong
        A young Malaysian girl experiences the painful process of
        girl-to-woman transformation in a world full of unexpected
        changes and sexual ambiguities. Set in Singapore's transvestite
        district and starring Hong Kong model Michael Lam and Hiep Thi
        Le. (from San Jose film description.)

The Colour of Britian
	Pratibha Parmar, Director
	A documentary look at contemporary "black" (Asian and African) artists 
	and cultural ciritcs who are at the forefront of redefining British
	culture.

Dream Girls
	Longinotto and Williams, Directors	
	1993 UK 50 mins
	(Takarazuka, male impersonaters in japan, not explicitly lesbian
	but one can read into it!)
	Available from:
	462 BROADWAY, 5TH FLOOR
	NEW YORK, NY 10013
	TEL:1-212-925-0606

Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun
	Pratibha Parmar, director
	(disabled lesbians and gays in UK, not sure if it has lesbians
	of colour, but am including films by Parmar as she's one of few
	lesbians of colour filmmakers)

The East is Red
        Ching Siu-tung and Raymond Lee, Directors
        1993 : Hong Kong : 95 minutes : Transsexual : Martial Arts/Fantasy :
        A warrior wizard who gave up his penis to become Asia the Invincible
        is the world's first transsexual lesbian superhero(ine).  Asia is
        out to rid the world of pretenders to her title of conqueror of the
        world in a visual extravaganza of bloody violence, sex, and special
        effects.  In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles.

Erotique
        Lizzie Borden, Monika Treut, and Clara Law, Directors
        1994 : 90 minutes : Lesbian/Bisexual : Comedy/Drama :
        A trio of films showcasing feminist erotica.  Lizzie Borden's
        "Let's Talk About Sex" (co-written by Susie Bright) follows
        the erotic entanglement of a spunky, bisexual Latina phone-sex
        worker and her sleazy male client.  Monika Treut's "Taboo
        Parlor" is the stylish adventure of a pair of lusciously
        predatory, lipstick lesbians.  Clara Law's "Wonton Soup"
        puts us in Hong Kong, where we look in on a straight couple's
        erotic encounters and reflections on Chinese identity.

Flesh & Paper
        1990 : UK : Lesbian :
        The life and writings of the lesbian writer and poet Suniti
        Namjoshi, who is from an Indian royal family and resides in
        England. Includes interviews with her friends and with the
        young Indian women who take her as a role model.

Fresh Kill
        Shu Lea Cheang, Director
        1993 : 80 minutes : Lesbian : Drama :
        An interracial lesbian couple make a life for themselves and
        their daughter on the edge of Staten Island's Fresh Kills garbage
        dump.  Computer hackers, cable-access personalities, and Tent-City
        residents inhabit a world of corporate manipulation and media
        surveillance.

Full Moon in New York
        1989 : Hong Kong : Lesbian : Drama :
        Three Chinese women immigrants in New York -- one from mainland
        China, one a Taiwanese actress, and one a successful entrepreneur
        and restaurateur from Hong Kong -- try to cope with their new
        surroundings. The film can be taken as a symbol of the struggles
        of the three Chinas to come together.

Khush
	Pratibha Parmar 
	1991, UK, 24 mins

Lesbo Love
	1994.  Desireena Almoradie, Director.
	Images of two women in love from footage from a Filipino feature
	film with two lesbians living in NYC.

Malaysian Series 1-6 
	Azian Nurudin, Director
	1986-87: Malaysia
	Videos by Azaian Nurudin, a lesbian Malaysian videomaker.  Can be
	obtained from the Frameline Distribution catalog.

Memsahib Rita
	Pratibha Parmar, Director
	Parmar's debut dramatic narrative which weaves magical realism, film 
	noir and thriller into the story of a young woman struggling to balance 
	her father's nostalgic grief and her own sense of loss on the 
	anniversary of her mother's death. 

Nancy's Nightmare
	Azian Nurudin
	1988: Malaysia
        Videos by Azaian Nurudin, a lesbian Malaysian videomaker.  Can be
        obtained from the Frameline Distribution catalog.
  
Out in Silence & Not a Simple Story
	Christine Choy, Director
	1994, 37 minutes
	These poignant films tell the stories of two Asian Pacific Americans:
	one straight and one gay, Robyn Tirrell, a resident of Hawai'i, 
	and Vince Crisostomo, a native of Guam and resident of San Francisco.
	Both have lost loved ones to AIDS.  In two films, they have chosen
	to disclose their own HIV-positive status to remedy the lack of
	information and denial about AIDS in their communities.  With 
	courage, determination, and a sense of privacy, they and their
	families and friends step out of their private lives and publicly
	challenge the myth that Asian Americans do not get AIDS.

Peach
	Christine Parker, Director
	1994 NZ 16 mins
	Maori wife sees and admires dyke truck driver.

Shinjuku Boys
        Longinotto and Williams, Directors
	UK, 1995
	Gaish is an attractive woman who lives as a man with lots of 
	girlfriends that he gives sex to but never recieves as he fears 
	removing his clothes. Tatsu, also a woman who lives as a man, has 
	testerone injections and lives happily in a sexual relationship with 
	another (female-identified) woman. Kazuki (the third woman living as a 
	man featured in this documentary) lives with Kumi, a transexual and 
	dancer in a bar. The film follows them at work and at home where they
	openly discuss their lives and their sexuality

The Silent Thrush
        Sheng-fu Cheng, Director
        1992 : Taiwan : 100 minutes : Lesbian : Drama :
        Backstage lesbian romance between a young girl who joins a
        Taiwanese opera company and the company's leading lady highlight
        this portrait of theater life in modern Taiwan.  The young woman
        finds the opera company not at all what she expects: audiences
        are deserting the opera, the program now includes less than
        respectable girly shows, and the star's long-time lover is
        intensely jealous of her.  In Hokkien and Mandarin with English
        subtitles.

Snowed In
	Nguyen Tan Hoang and Shu Lea Cheang, Directors
	A film on interracial desire.

Straight for the Money
	Hima B., Director
	1994: USA: 60 mins.
	A startling documentary about gay women and their jobs in the 
	straight porn industry.  As both lesbians and as prostitutes and 
	strippers, these women balance their personal and professional 
	lives in ways that are lively and fascinating.

Ten Cents a Dance
[Parallax]
        Midi Onodera, Director
        1986 : Canada : 30 minutes : Lesbian/Gay : Drama :
        Experimental film exploring contemporary forms of sexuality
        and communication between a lesbian couple, a gay male couple,
        and a straight couple.

The Twin Bracelets
        Yu-Shan Huang, Director
        1990 : Hong Kong/Taiwan : 100 minutes : Lesbian : Drama :
        A young woman in an oppressive Chinese fishing village seeks
        love and escape in the arms of her childhood girlfriend
        against a backdrop of customs and mores that treat women as
        property with no human rights.

Two or Three Things I Know About Them
        Anson Mak, Director
        1991 : Hong Kong : 39 minutes : Lesbian :
        An experimental four-part video that deals with the issues and
        concerns of an emerging lesbian community in Hong Kong.

What Do Pop Art, Pop Music, Pornography and Politics Have To Do With Real 
Life?
	Azian Nurudin, Director
	1990: Malaysia
        Videos by Azaian Nurudin, a lesbian Malaysian videomaker.  Can be
        obtained from the Frameline Distribution catalog.

Wicked Radiance
	Azian Nurudin, Director
	1992: Malaysia
        Videos by Azaian Nurudin, a lesbian Malaysian videomaker.  Can be
        obtained from the Frameline Distribution catalog.

A Woman Waiting For Her Period
	Wei-Ssu Chien, Director
	1993, US, Video, 23 min., color
	A wonderfully idiosyncratic and moving portrait that captures
	the silence and displacement, as well as the intense intimacy
	between friends experienced by Chinese graduate students in
	the Midwest.  Waiting for a menstrual period that never
	comes becomes a metaphor of suspension and freedom of
	living in another country.

Women Make Movies
	Pratibha Parmar, producer and director
	1991: 24 mins: Khush, New York
	A videorecording of interviews with South Asian gay men and lesbians 
	living in the West and in India.  Discussion covers topics of racism 
	within the Western gay community; the difficulty of developing an Asian 
	vs. a white concept of homosexuality; the cultural pressure to marry;  
	persecution of gay men in India; and the implications of caste barriers 
	in the efforts to build a united gay and lesbian Indian community.