Lecture: Queer Cinema in Taiwan(2020/11/26)

“In the past, gay movies only depicted pretty and beautiful gay characters. But there is more than just one kind of being queer, as we are now starting to see.”

In this talk, film director Chang Chiung-Wen (張瓊文)shared the creative experiences of shooting When Mom Visits. In the story of the movie, the main character Vicky, a closeted lesbian, is one day visited unexpectedly by her mother. Vicky’s girlfriend, who lives with her, is confused and upset about Vicky’s reluctance of coming out to her mother. The movie depicts  this dynamic between lesbian romance and mother-daughter relationship. After queer rights became a critical matter of concern in recent years in Taiwan, queer movies have started to incorporate a wider array of different stories, shifting from the unitary characterization and staging of queer to diverse possibilities. It is clear – there is not only one kind of queer. With this, more pressing questions come to the forefront. For instance, how do we rework the possible dichotomy or hierarchy within the queer?