Hot Gay News: Singapore bans documentary about gay muslims from film festival (April 11)

Singapore bans documentary about gay muslims from film festival

A Jihad for Love was filmed over five years and in nine languages by India-born and raised director Parvez Sharma who travelled the world from India to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France to interview devout Muslims who are lesbian, gay or transgender to speak about their faith and their sexuality. In the film, a gay South African imam argues that homosexuality is not banned while another imam rebuts his view.

According to traditional interpretations of the Quran, homosexuality is strictly forbidden and officially carries the death penalty in some Muslim or Muslim dominant countries including Iran, Saudi-Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Sudan and Nigeria.

Three other documentaries were banned from the censors: Arabs And Terrorism and David The Tolhildan, were “disallowed on account of their sympathetic portrayal of organisations deemed terrorist organisations by many countries;” while Bakushi, a film on a Japanese form of sexual bondage involving elaborate rope patterns was disallowed because it “normalises unnatural fetishes and behaviour,”

AFP: Singapore censors say four films banned from film festival (April 4)

Singapore censors say four films banned from film festival

Apr 4, 2008

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Four film documentaries, including one by a gay Muslim and another about terrorism, have been banned from being shown at Singapore's film festival, the censor board said Saturday.

It said the films "exceed the Film Classification Guidelines".

Board of Film Censors chairman Amy Chua said "Arabs and Terrorism" and another film, "David the Tolhildan", were "disallowed on account of their sympathetic portrayal of organisations deemed terrorist organisations by many countries."

Since independence in 1965, Singapore has grown from an underdeveloped country to an Asian economic powerhouse. But critics say this has come at a price, in the form of restrictions on freedom of speech and political activity.

According to the film festival programme, "Arabs and Terrorism" presents a dialogue between right-wing American policymakers and Middle Eastern political factions.

"David the Tolhildan" is about a Swiss man who joins the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the festival said. The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.

Another rejected film, "A Jihad for Love" by gay Muslim film-maker Parvez Sharma, is about homosexual people living within Muslim communities, the festival said. In a statement, Chua said the film was disallowed because of "the sensitive nature of the subject".

Japanese documentary Bakushi, which is about bondage, also failed to get classification because it "normalises unnatural fetishes and behaviour", Chua said.

Festival officials could not be reached for comment but a notice on the its website said "A Jihad for Love" and "Arabs and Terrorism" had been "disallowed". It did not elaborate but said "Arabs and Terrorism" had been set for a sold-out screening on Saturday.

Singapore's government says the city-state has been liberalising but maintains a conservative core.

About 200 films have been classified for the festival which runs until April 14, Chua said.

Fridae.com: Sun shines on Singapore Queer Cinema (March 26)

sun shines on singapore queer cinema
Zee

Filmmaker Sun Koh gathered six other directors to collaborate on an ambitious film experiment called Lucky 7. Not surprisingly, the film has some strong LGBT themes because four of the seven filmmakers are gay.

This year’s Singapore International Film Festival is marked by a strong presence of lesbian movies, lesbian documentaries and women filmmakers. One of those women is the petite, soft-voiced, but feisty 31-year-old Sun Koh.

[PIC]Last year, the Singaporean writer-director embarked on an ambitious film experiment which has never been carried out in Singapore before. She wanted to produce her first ever feature film. But instead of making it herself, she invited six other directors to play a game of “exquisite corpse” with her.

The game – invented by artists in 1925 – began with Sun directing a 10-minute movie. Subsequently, another director was asked to look at only the last minute of her movie and continue with the next 10-minutes of the movie. The game continued with each successive director until all seven directors have made their films.

The final result is Lucky 7, an ambitious mind-bending film that constantly twists and turns from a collision of styles, ideas, themes and genres. It is certainly one of the most intriguing Singaporean films ever made.

The seven filmmakers involved include gay multimedia artist Brian Gothong Tan, as well as the very talented Boo Junfeng, who is the curator of Short Circuit, an annual festival dedicated to LGBT short films. The other four filmmakers are Tania Sng, K Rajagopal, Ho Tzu Nyen and Chew Tze Chuan.

Four of the seven directors are gay. So perhaps not surprisingly, LGBT themes figure largely in some of the works.

Junfeng’s segment, for instance, deals with a transsexual character and his/her relationships with loved ones. Despite the potentially racy subject, Junfeng’s piece turns out to be the most delicate, graceful and transcendent part of the omnibus. I have rarely seen the issue of transgender identity treated with such tenderness and sensitivity.

Sun’s own segment is a quiet and moving drama about the fate of a man who has to care for his bedridden father, while Brian’s piece is an experimental dare that mixes live action with computer animation. Also very good is K. Rajagopal’s abstract piece on sexual identity, persecution and mortality.

Tickets for Lucky 7, which is screening at the Singapore International Film Festival on April 5 and 12, have been selling well.

Sun, who started out in the industry 11 years ago, says she initiated the project because “we Singaporean directors are too isolated, working on our own instead of with each other.” Lucky 7 came about because she wanted to see more collaboration – not competition for resources – between filmmakers.

She contrasts this situation to Malaysia where independent filmmakers such as Amir Muhammad, James Lee, Yasmin Ahmad and Tan Chui Mui routinely help each other out. They take turns to be, say, an actor or a cameraman or an advisor for each other’s productions. In recent years, many of their films have won acclaim and top prizes at prestigious film festivals like Pusan and Rotterdam.

“Now take me, for example,” she says. “I’ve been friends with Wee Li Lin (director of Gone Shopping) for years, but we’ve never had a chance to work on each other’s set.”

Co-director Rajagopal agrees wholeheartedly: “I’ve been making short films for over a decade, but I’ve always felt that I had to do it on my own, that I didn’t really know anyone else.”

From the looks of it though, Sun’s Lucky 7 project has succeeded in changing the “lonewolf” mentality among the filmmakers. All of them played numerous roles for each other’s segments, from art directing to sound recording to managing the catering.

Junfeng even came up with the beautiful story of a transsexual for his segment, because of the provocative images in Rajagopal’s segment – that of a long-haired man wearing bright red fingernails.

Sun jokes: “This might be your only chance to see the film. Because with all the gay innuendoes, it’ll probably never be shown on public screens again.”

Fridae is proud to be a supporting media of the 21st Singapore International Film Festival. The festival will be held from 4 to 14 April, with free programmes and short films screening from 28 Mar. Booking through SISTIC starts 11 Mar. For more information, visit http://www.filmfest.org.sg.

ST: Censors pass controversial film (Mar 18)

March 18, 2008
Censors pass controversial film

A DOCUMENTARY about lesbians has been cleared by the Board of Film Censors to screen in next month's 21st Singapore International Film Festival.

Directed by Lim Mayling, Women Who Love Women: Conversations In Singapore has been given an R21 rating with no cuts.

It will be screened twice at Sinema@Old School on April 5, at 7pm and 9.15pm.
The 65-minute documentary revolves around three Singaporean women - Amanda Lee, 24, an undergraduate at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia; Sabrina Renee Chong, 40, a photographer; and Gea Swee Jean, 24, who works in business and IT marketing - talking candidly about their lives and loves.

The film was submitted to the censors on Jan 10 and was given the seal of approval last Wednesday.

Producer Ngiam Suling tells Life!: 'It is heartening and encouraging that alternative voices in Singapore are beginning to get heard, and we hope that audiences for the documentary will be diverse and not just primarily the lesbian and gay communities.

'We would be very happy if the documentary manages to create dialogue about the issues raised as well as a deeper understanding of some experiences of growing up lesbian in Singapore.'

The Singapore International Film Festival runs from April 4 to 14. Douglas Tseng
For ticketing details and programme schedule, visit www.filmfest.org.sg

ST Life!: Censors pass controversial film (March 18)

March 18, 2008
Censors pass controversial film
A DOCUMENTARY about lesbians has been cleared by the Board of Film
Censors to screen in next month's 21st Singapore International Film
Festival.

Directed by Lim Mayling, Women Who Love Women: Conversations In
Singapore has been given an R21 rating with no cuts.

It will be screened twice at Sinema@Old School on April 5, at 7pm and
9.15pm.

The 65-minute documentary revolves around three Singaporean women -
Amanda Lee, 24, an undergraduate at the Australian National University
in Canberra, Australia; Sabrina Renee Chong, 40, a photographer; and
Gea Swee Jean, 24, who works in business and IT marketing - talking
candidly about their lives and loves.

The film was submitted to the censors on Jan 10 and was given the seal
of approval last Wednesday.

Producer Ngiam Suling tells Life!: 'It is heartening and encouraging
that alternative voices in Singapore are beginning to get heard, and
we hope that audiences for the documentary will be diverse and not
just primarily the lesbian and gay communities.

'We would be very happy if the documentary manages to create dialogue
about the issues raised as well as a deeper understanding of some
experiences of growing up lesbian in Singapore.'

The Singapore International Film Festival runs from April 4 to 14.
Douglas Tseng

# For ticketing details and programme schedule, visit www.filmfest.org.sg

ST:14 home-grown works in S'pore film fest (Feb 22)

Feb 22, 2008
14 home-grown works in S'pore film fest
Two films with gay content, Women Who Love Women and Lucky7, could
prove controversial
By Douglas Tseng
THIS year's Singapore International Festival showcases 14 movies made
by home-grown talents including two works with gay content which could
prove to be controversial.

Women Who Love Women: Conversations In Singapore is touted as one of
the few documentaries ever made about lesbians here. In it, three
Singapore lesbians talk candidly about their lives and loves.

Lucky7 is an experimental film with seven directors at the helm. One
director does a 10- to 12-minute segment of the film and this is
continued by the next director who knows only what has happened in the
last minute of the previous segment.

The movie's central character is played by by Sunny Pang. It has
homosexual content and has been rated R21 for 'sexual content and
disturbing images'.

Festival director Philip Cheah said Women Who Love Women was submitted
to the censors on Jan 10 and is pending a rating.

He said: 'All the films are like our children, we want to see them all
through the process.''

The festival has a policy of showing films uncut. Last year, Kan
Lume's experimental film about a gay couple, Solos, was withdrawn from
the festival after the censors ordered three cuts.

Other films that were withdrawn after the censors wanted cuts included
Sam Loh's serial killer thriller Outsiders (2005) and Zai Kuning's
short film Even Dogs Have Choices (2005), a short film featuring local
singer X' Ho.

Women Who Love Women, directed by Lim Mayling, 28, an events manager,
was screened at the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival last
November. It has also been screened privately in Singapore.

The three lesbians are Amanda Lee, 24, an undergraduate at the
Australian National University in Canberra, Australia; Sabrina Renee
Chong, 40, a photographer; and Gea Swee Jean, 24, who works in
business and IT marketing.

When asked how the audience would react to the documentary, Lim said:
'We will leave it to the audience to have their own thoughts. It is
still a little surreal to have been selected for the festival. It
remains to be seen if the film will be screened or how it will be rated.''

Other Singapore works to look out for include Royston Tan's After The
Rain, a short film about a young lad's move from the countryside to
the city, and Tan Siok Siok's Boomtown Beijing, a documentary on the
impact of the upcoming Olympics Games on a group of Beijing residents.

Royston is one of Singapore's most well-known directors, whose last
film, 881, about getai singers, made about $3.5 million at the box
office. Siok Siok is a long-time television producer who has worked
with Discovery Channel and MediaCorp TV. Boomtown Beijing is her debut
film, which she made while lecturing at Beijing Film Academy.

Festival manager Yuni Hadi said of the Singapore film segment:
'Whatever pre-conception we have of what a 'Singapore film' is, should
be left at the door and be challenged, twisted, questioned and discussed.'

The festival's opening film on April 4 is Wayne Wang's The Princess Of
Nebraska, a story about a pregnant Chinese girl's life in the United
States. Wang, who made his name with The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Eat
A Bowl Of Tea (1989), will be here for the festival.

Other films to watch out for include Wang Quanan's Tuya's Marriage,
which won the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last
year. It tells the heartbreaking story of a Mongolian woman who tries
to find a suitor to take care of her and her disabled husband.

douglast@sph.com.sg

# Ticket sales at Sistic outlets start from March 5. For ticketing
details and programme information, visit www.filmfest.org.sg

# The Siff venues are Lido cineplex at Orchard Road, National Museum
of Singapore, The Substation, Goethe Institute, Republic Polytechnic
and Sinema@Old School.