love bound
DIRECTOR: shanshan chen
80 MINS, uk, 2024, SUBTITLED
Official selection, Queer East Festival 2024
Screening followed by a Q&A with Qiuyan Chen (founder and director of Queer China UK) and Pradeep Mahadeshwar (multidisciplinary Irish artist and founder of Queen Asian Pride Ireland and Queen Spectrum Film Festival)
Sometimes, love has to overcome many obstacles. But when it does, the result is inspiring. Qiuyan found fame in China when she sued the government over homophobic university textbooks. Subjected to conversion therapy and surveillance, she comes to study in London. There she meets Bling, another Chinese student. A natural activist and marginalised in both the Chinese and queer communities, Qiuyan launches Queer China UK just in time to take on anti-Chinese prejudice during COVID. But when Bling graduates, she has to return to China. Will the British government give Bling a visa to return to Qiuyan? Illustrated with charming animations, Chen Shanshan’s documentary uplifts at the same time as it dispels easy myths about escaping to the liberal West.
FILM CURATED AND NOTES BY CHRIS BERRY, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
