Short Circuit: Singapore's first LGBT film festival

The inaugural Short Circuit was held at the Guinness Theatre, The Substation, at 7:30 pm on Friday, 6 October 2006.

It was organised by PLU under the leadership of Alex Au and curated by writer Alfian Sa'at and film director Boo Junfeng.

=Short Circuit 2006=

While it was not quite a full-blown film festival, Singapore had its inaugural showcase of 12 short films by 9 local filmmakers last Friday. Curated by award winning poet and playwright Alfian Sa'at and filmmaker Boo Junfeng, the films that were selected either featured either LGBT themes or were made by queer filmmakers.

Organised by gay advocacy group People Like Us, Short Circuit was a private screening - which required attendees to register by email at least a week prior to the event - attracted a turnout of 144 people. The requirement was stipulated by the organisers in consideration of censorship rules in Singapore.

Organiser Alex Au explained that almost all films with homosexual content are rated R21 by the Media Development Authority. "We felt that since the filmmakers were themselves barely 21, they would have a lot of their own friends of their age group who'd want to see their works. So it didn't feel right to exclude them."

Au also said, "We would not as a matter of principle accept edits imposed by censors. So we'd rather do a private screening than subject ourselves to rules we do not agree with."

Au, a social commentator and gay rights activist, noted the audience's response in his Yawning Bread blog: "It's hits home very hard, a painful portrayal of what many of us, straight or gay, have gone through. There is desire, and the realisation of that desire in physical sex. But sometimes that turns out to be little more than mechanical, and we deal with it through denial (it's no big deal, we say). But there are times when denial doesn't work and we may feel dirty or used, ending up regretting and chastising ourselves for doing what we did."

While the audience and filmmakers discussed queer filmmaking and having positive gay representation in film, the most quoted take home message of the night was undoubtedly from Ivan Heng, the founding artistic director of W!LD RICE and one of Singapore's best known figures in the arts scene. He articulated the importance of community events such as Short Circuit saying: "Tonight's gathering is significant. We came here as strangers, and having witnessed these films together, we leave as a community."

Bedroom dancing
(In Mandarin with English subtitles) by Sun Koh

Jen and Ken have mind-blowing sex every night. One day, Jen learns that another woman has been watching her husband. A fictional adaptation of the true Singapore story.

Held at the Substation, the evening opened with an unexpected bang where the mostly queer audience watched what is unarguably the most explicit sex scenes (ironically heterosexual) in the history of Singapore filmmaking on the big screen.

Bedroom Dancing, a 18-minute social satire by Sun Koh, is a fictional adaptation of a true story where a man in Singapore was fined S$6,500 (US$4,000) by the state for masturbating at his bedroom window every morning after a woman - who presumably spied on him on numerous occasions - made a police report.

Demam jantan (Boy fever)
(In Malay with English subtitles) By Ezzam Rahman and Ghazi Alqudcy

Two chatty queer teenagers decide to perform a traditional ritual to get their boyfriend back. It’s a rollercoaster night for them when they need to perform the ritual at a Malay cemetery. Will they be abducted by roaming spirits? Or will they spook their pants off?

Crocodile Journals
By Yeo Lee Nah

Living in disguise, a crocodile goes through the everyday, in a human world. One day, it gets invited to a masquerade party…

Molu (Daughter)
(In Tamil with English subtitles) By Prema Menon

All her life, Maya has grown up in a small town. Now she dreams of moving onto a place that holds bigger and better things for her. With the inheritance of her deceased father pending, a year after his demise, she sees this as the perfect opportunity to leave. The only thing that stands in her way is her mother's reluctance, or so she thinks.

Montage of 4 very short films
By Brian Gothong Tan
 * ASIAN GIRLS VOL 2 (MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA)
 * IMELDA GOES TO SINGAPORE
 * INSTANT NOODLES
 * THE EPHEMERAL BODY

Four very short films by multimedia artist Brian Gothong Tan explore issues of gender, sexuality and cultural stereotypes. From the eerie homoeroticism in The Ephemeral Body to the kimono-clad drag queens in Asian Girls Vol. 2, Brian’s works are often notable for their icy, high-gloss finish subverted by play and parody.

Falling into fuchsia
By A D Chan

Struggling actor Gary plays Hamlet in a homoerotic film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. As he works hard on the role, his girlfriend complains that he is not giving their relationship enough attention. But when his co-actor Aidan provokes him with suggestive invitations, Gary’s real life and reel life begin to intertwine…

Pink IC
By Charmaine Wong

Pink IC was made at the height of Remaking Singapore as well as ex-PM Goh’s significant interview with Time Asia Magazine, in which he announced that the government has allowed gay people to hold “sensitive” positions in civil service. The personal is political and Pink IC offers a glimpse into the lives of 5 queer female Singaporeans, exploring what it means to be queer, female and Singaporean.

Wong's 12-minute documentary was spliced with sound bites from a 2003 interview with Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who was asked by the filmmaker where gay people fit into Singapore society. He was speaking at The Remaking Singapore Dialogue held at Perth's Murdoch University where Wong was a Media Studies student.

At the August 15, 2003 dialouge, he said: "Let me put it to you this way, a gay person or a straight person is a citizen. And as a citizen, he has a certain reasonable expectation to be able to live, work, find housing, find a job and to seek fulfillment in his or her own life. The fact that he is different or she is different does not give anybody the right to throw stones or to stone that person.

"But having said that, there's a difference between tolerance and endorsement and as a government, we're not endorsing or promoting the homosexual lifestyle.

"So therefore my advice to gays would be -do your own thing but recognise and respect the fact that the vast majority of Singaporeans are conservative on this point and it would be counterproductive to you to unnecessarily ratchet up the level of debate."

At the time, the "Remaking Singapore" Committee which Dr Balakrishnan heads had just submitted its report which made recommendations on the political, social and cultural aspects of Singapore's survival as a nation. At the same time, an intense public discussion about then PM Goh Chok Tong's Time Asia interview where he disclosed that gay people are being employed within the government was taking place.

Wong told Fridae, "Amidst that discussion, another question was being asked: What happened to the lesbian voice? Why weren't they contributing to the discussion?"

"So that was how Pink IC came about. I wanted queer - not necessarily lesbian - female, Singaporeans - (not only ethnic Chinese Singaporeans - to voice out on how it is for them to be queer, to be female, to be Singaporean and on the political events that were happening around them that were affecting or had the potential of affecting them personally."

Untitled
By Loo Zihan & Kan Lume

Boy meets boy. Boy has sex. Boy goes home. Boy drinks water. Boy takes a shower. The other boy is fading.

While most films received unrestrained applause, the audience was a little less enthusiastic in showing their appreciation of Loo Zihan's emotionally charged 7-minute film which features a young man who suffers a breakdown in the shower after having sex with a male stranger. The film also inspired questions about whether gay films have a duty to promote positive portrayals of gay life during the question and answer session. Loo's responded that what was depicted in the film could be experienced by both gay and straight individuals.

Un retrato de familia (A family portrait)
By Boo Junfeng

Sergio is a seventeen year-old amateur photographer. When his little sister asks him about the meaning of sex one day, he revisits a memory years ago, in which he discovers a shocking secret amongst his family members.

The heavyweight offerings of the night were Boo Junfeng's nostalgic Un Retrato de Familia (A Family Portrait) and Pink IC by Charmaine Wong, a documentary which had five women talk about being gay in Singapore.

In A Family Portrait which was filmed in Spain (and Spanish) with a local cast, a young girl asks her teenaged brother a question which leads him to recall a day many years ago when he saw his parents and uncle in a threesome. Boo later revealed that the film was instrumental in his coming out to his mother two years later when he turned 21.

=See also=

Singapore gay films

=References=


 * Sylvia Tan, Fridae, "News around the world 11-Oct-06", 11 October 2006.


 * Alex Au, Fridae, "The cinematic road to the future", 16 October 2006.


 * PLU's Short Circuit 2006 Yahoo!Groups news list:.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was compiled by Roy Tan.