A Queer Journey Through 17 Films

Founded in 2016, SHQFF is a platform for queer cinema, screening some of the best films from around the world to explore diverse meanings of love and queer culture.

Are you excited about our announced feature films? During this upcoming 2018 Shanghai Queer Film Festival, we will also be screening 17 excellent films in the Short Film Section. Additionally, we have invited the production teams from three of the films to come to attend the screenings for interactive Q&A's with audience. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!

2018 SHQFF Asian Short Film Competition

Official Selection

Slingshot Prince

Dandelion Lin, the United States/China

It’s 1995 in a small town in the south of China and a 12-year-old tomboy is an embarrassment to her family, who values her younger brother far more than her. She has decided to dress like a boy, think like a man and count the days until she can leave her village and find a place where she can be treated as an equal. The boys in her school are threatened by the girl's independence and decide to teach her a lesson by cornering her in a dark alley and sexually harassing her. Determined to avenge this injustice, she chases the boys through town, picking them off one-by-one with her slingshot.    

Feverish

Xinyuan Zheng Lu, the United States

Val, Max, Alix and Jonathan. They love, then are apart. By the end of the day, the only loyalty to Val is music, to Max is freedom, to Alix is joy. Jonathan looks just like Max. "I can imagine my life without you, I just don't  know if it will be better.” - Val

Red

Yuchao Feng, the United States

A teen finds comfort, freedom, and affirmation in dressing in “women’s clothing,” until they see their father on the street.

Pink Pill

Xiaoshan Xie, China

The story takes place in a small town in China. Zhang He, a girl in high school, is discovered to be a lesbian and is bullied for it. Li Bo likes her very much and tries his best to protect her. One day, he is told that perhaps an aphrodisiac can cure her gayness. Will it? Can he really change her, or only destroy them both?  

Old Narcissus

Tsuyoshi Shoji, Japan

An old picture book writer named Yamazaki, having been handsome as a young gay man, grows narcissistic of his beauty. But now, can’t bear his own aging. One night, Yamazaki meets a young and beautiful man named Leo. Yamazaki collapses during an S&M session with Leo and reveals his agony. Sadly, it’s lost on young Leo, and Yamazaki turns to hurting himself in order to bear his own reflection in the mirror…

Tidal

Yenhsun Lee，Taiwan, China

In this story, love is like the tides of the sea. Ocean, a boy who grew up on a small island, has a taboo relationship with Tide, a sailor who regularly docks his boat at the island. On one occasion, Ocean prepares to tell Tide that he had convinced his mother to let him go sailing. However, Tide has been concealing his marriage from Ocean, and he eventually decides to end their romance. 

Sorry For The Inconvenience

Carl Chavez, the Philippines

Joshua, a timid teenager, comes home one night after being beaten up by the school's bully. Feeling the urge to avenge himself, he decides to take matters into his own hands. But things don't go as planned. Now, he is left with no choice but to seek help from his policeman father.

Uninvited

Seung Yeob Lee, South Korea

Jungho's mom comes up to Seoul and visits him as an “uninvited guest,”and Jungho doesn't know how to handle the situation.

2018 SHQFF World Short Film Screening Official Selection

Little Boy Blue

Andreas Samuelson, Sweden

A boy and his two fathers are visited in the nighttime by a mysterious stranger. 

Sleepover 

Jimi Vall Peterson, Sweden

Emil and Adam are two guys in their 20's. They are close friends, and after a night at the movies, Emil goes to sleep over at Adam's. Emil has unspoken feelings for Adam - feelings that are tested when they sleep in the same double bed. It's a film about friendship and the longing for something more.

DIVA

Adam Csoka Keller, the United Kingdom

Cries of ‘DIVA’ are known to ring out in the drag bar as well as the opera house. In this surreal queer fantasia on classical music, Baroque iconography, and scandalous first-century verse, drag prima donna Divina de Campo premieres an original operatic aria with chamber orchestra by composer V. R. Alevizos. Europe’s historic concert halls set the stage for an ecstatic meeting of two art traditions which traffic in extremes of gender performance, enacting a space where the drag bar diva and the opera house diva share the same skin.

Refugees under the Rainbow

Stella Traub, Germany

"At the end of the rainbow you will find a treasure – it will completely change your life." Whoever tries to find the end of the rainbow will realize things are not that easy - the end of the rainbow is not a fixed point.  Yusuf, Ritah and William also had to make this experience in their lives – just like many LGBT* refugees. The film tells the story of their journey: a journey from Uganda to Germany; a story of violence, hope, disappointments and everyone's personal rainbow.

Sookee- of Seahorses and Closets

Kerstin Polte, Germany

"Sookee - Of Seahorses and Closets" is a multi-layered and intimate portrait of Sookee, a famous queer-feminist hip hop artist and left-wing activist in Germany. She has been fighting against sexism, homophobia and racism in German society and, especially, in German hip-hop for years now. Whether she’s putting on make-up, performing on big stages, giving lectures for students or at school, rapping at a lesbian wedding, cooking with her mother or writing lyrics in a Berlin park - her life and thoughts always  revolve around her message: tolerance and love instead of discrimination and stereotyping. Honesty instead of arrogance. Diversity instead of binary thinking. Seahorses instead of closets.

Calamity

Maxime Feyers, Belgium

France meets her son's girlfriend for the first time. She loses control…    

Silvia in the waves

Giovana Olmos, Canada

Noa struggles to honor the identity of his recently deceased father while his mother tries to uphold the appearance of a conventional family. Grief and fantasy entwine to reveal the complex relationships between history and erasure, identity and memory.

Something About Alex

Reinout Hellenthal, the Netherlands

Alex, a troubled and isolated teenager, finds a true and supportive friend in Hendrik, his sister's boyfriend. When Hendrik and Annelies announce their plans to leave the family home, Alex must face what is troubling him.

1st Day& Next Minute

Sara Koppel, Denmark

A new animated micro-short film by Sara Koppel of Naked Love Film. A rushing adventure into a genderfluid person's zone of desires , where lust & responsibility are constant dividing & demanding needs.

The 8  films for the Asian Short Film Competition will be reviewed by five judges for six awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Photography, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Jury Prize. The final winners will be announced at the Film Festival in September; the 9 World Short Films will not receive awards.

The exact date and time of the film screenings will be announced later. Please pay close attention to our WeChat account. 

Shanghai Queer Film Festival returns on September 21st，2018. Our theme this year is Generation Q, celebrating the legacy of distinctive queer souls through history, and exploring the vibrant, new faces of our community today. The six day festival will feature film screenings from around the world, alongside discussions and events, all for free. Queer generations under the shadows and out in the light, join us in looking into the next Generation Q.

SHQFF 2018 Official Trailer