For the summer edition, Asian Movie Night brings a performance and a selection of queer films that are a reflection on past and contemporary cinematic depictions of queer lives and histories and the cultural heritages that we carry with us. From the tenacious roars of 60s art subcultures in Tokyo, Japan to the spine-chilling, prayer-like whispers of contemporary Southeast Asian cinema, queer lives have always been found at the center of artistic reflections of cultures and histories. With this edition Asian Movie Night is exploring how to engage with our (queer) pasts and what we see in the (queer) stories told by those that came before us.
Who has been made present and who has been left wanting by the sidelines?
What happens at the intersections of queerness with national identity, culture, community and state?
Before the screening, there will be a performance by Qiao Chu Guo.
If You See Something That Doesn’t Look Right | Wong Ka Ki, Vincent Ip | 2024 | Hong Kong, Ukraine | 5’
Two girls from two different worlds - they meet in the underground and try to heal their wounds, both physically and mentally, via their fantasies towards one another
Spring Will Come | Marion Hoang Ngoc Hill | 2024 | Vietnam, US | 15’ Vietnamese w/ English subs
Saigonese DJ Van Anh and her girlfriend Ly are struggling to end their relationship. Then a strange woman shows up to free the spirit of her long lost Father from their apartment.
Memori Dia | Asarela Orchidia Dewi | 2023 | Indonesia | 17’ Bahasa Indonesian w/ English subs
Triggered by an old family photograph, a young adult named Azka retraces their childhood - a sacred stage of life when they became aware of the external world around them and their inner self. While revisiting these long-forgotten memories, Azka discovers unresolved pains they never knew existed. This revelation marks a new beginning, one that unfolds the tapestry of profound self-embrace and acceptance, allowing Azka to move forward unapologetically into their truest essence.
The Deity Yet to Be Seen | Junn Zhou | 2024 | Netherlands | 14’ Mandarin w/ English subs
A re-enactment of the legend of the white serpent (白蛇传), an ancient Chinese folktale, the film traces a serpent spirit through its transformative states of gender and identity. It evolves from a formless being to a man, woman, both, and neither.
Asian Movie Night is a diasporic film platform in the Netherlands. Established as a direct response to the systematic lack of Asian representation in the Dutch cultural scene, AMN brings in radically different narratives and aesthetics to a broad audience through collaboration with various cultural venues.
Eastern Playgrounds
Eastern Playgrounds is an Amsterdam-based Queer/Asian-led collective. Through hosting community events with Asian board games, mahjong workshops and karaoke sessions, they create space for connection and belonging through playfulness and joy.
Before the screening, Ko-Yu (Sara) Huang, a Taiwan-born interdisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands, presents an intimate serving of nostalgia and relearning — Tied Beancurd Knots and Seaweed Knots with homemade Sha-Cha Sauce (沙茶醬). This cold platter features soy-and-spice-braised beancurd and seaweed knots — ingredients that literally “tie” together, but whose meaning goes beyond the culinary. The word “結” (knot) can suggest connection, fate, or entanglement.
After the screening, Eastern Playgrounds keeps us tied up with a karaoke after party and a mahjong parlour at the cinema room of Cavia. Born from a desire for joy that centers Asian identities, their priority as a Queer/Asian-centered initiative is to carve out a space for a community to exist and grow while celebrating individual identities that never neatly fit into one way of being Asian.
Full programme:
20:00 – Doors open
20:00- 21:00 – Eastern Playgrounds: Taiwanese food by Sara
21:00 – 21:15 Performance by Qiao Chu Guo
21:30 – 22:30 Asian Movie Night: A selection of queer shorts
23:00 – 03:00 Eastern Playgrounds: karaoke after party x mahjong parlour
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