It makes interesting reading the reviews of the films to be staged in the "Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action" organized by The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality and Moving Images And The International Centre to be held in PANAJI, GOA between July 14-15, 2007. The event, Films of Desire: Sexuality and the Cinematic Imagination, a one day event, will focus on Southeast Asian Cinema and will feature inter alia Screenings of features, short films, documentaries, animation, music videos and experimental films that engage with ideas of sexuality in South and Southeast Asia. Discussions around the different ways in which desires get articulated, normative and non-normative representations of sexualities and how filmmakers' intentions may be displaced by multiple readings by the audience.
This seems to be an interesting event in The International Centre,Goa,Goa University Road , Dona Paula on 14 July between 4 pm to 8 pm and on 15 July between 4 pm to 8.30 pm. The details can be procured from the website
A brief outline of some of the movies to be showcased in the two day festival and their review-
BEAUTIFUL BOXER, Ekachai Uekrongtham , 118 minutes/ Thai with English subtitles/ 2003/ Thailand
Based on the real life story of Parinya Charoenphol, a Muaythai boxer who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman. The movie chronicles her life from a young boy who likes to wear lipstick and wear flowers to her sensational career as a kick boxer whose specialty is ancient Muaythai boxing moves which she can execute expertly with grace and finally her confrontation with her own sexuality which led to her sex change operation.
LOVE FOR SHARE , Nia Dinata, 120 minutes/ Bahasa Indonesia with English subtitles/ 2006/ Indonesia .
The film is an intriguing portrait of polygamous lifestyles in contemporary Jakarta. A gynecologist Salma discovers, to her shock, that her husband has taken a second wife. She tolerates successive wives as'a good Muslim wife'should, until an incident forces her to cater to everyone in his circle. Siti, a country girl, realizes too late that her uncle, who has moved her to Jakarta with the promise of sending her to beauty school, has other intentions. In a packed household, Siti's hope for survival rests in her growing intimacy with one of her uncle's other wives.And Ming,a waitress and material girl, contrives to become her Catholic boss' second wife. The lives of these three women from different classes and ethnic backgrounds intersect as the similarities in their stories are revealed.
SEA IN THE BLOOD, Richard Fung, 26 minutes/ English/ 2000/ Canada.
An intensely moving personal essay about living in the shadow of illness, Sea in the Blood explores two of Fung's closest relationships — with his late sister Nan, who died in 1977 of a rare blood disorder called thalassemia (which literally means 'sea in the blood'), and with his lifelong lover, Tim, who has been living with HIV since 1980.
STRAY CATS , Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, 115 min/ Filipino, Tagalog & English with English subtitles/ 2005/ Philippines.
The film follows the parallel love lives of Marta,a middle-aged advertising executive, and her gay friend and duplex landlord, Boyet. Both are waiting for the men who they believe will fulfill their hopes and dreams. Boyet writes romance novels inspired by Marta's idiosyncratic anxieties about Steve, her noncommittal boyfriend. Hoping that Steve will eventually ask her to settle down,Marta is quietly envious of Boyet's 'family' —his adopted son, Jojo, a 15-year-old pickpocket, and Dom, his financially dependent lover. Willing to play the stereotypical roles of woman and gay man, Marta and Boyet embrace their hopeful fantasies. All these hopes
turn out to be illusions, however, and as they mature they decide to take matters into their own hands.
THE MATCHMAKER, Cinzia Puspita Rini, 10 minutes/ Indonesian with
English subtitles/ 2006/ Indonesia
A simple story about Kay, an eclectic girl with both beauty and sweetness and a guy who seems to fall for her.Their eyes locked and she had him besotted since the first second he saw her, in his bookstore. The simple yet charming guy, named Darren owns a bookstore and she is quite a regular customer. A conversation over the book she ordered actually begins what we think as a start of a romantic journey. While, Kay is cooking a master plan which involves Darren in her own mind, they enjoy their times together. A week after their first meeting, Kay decides to launch her master plan.
These are but a few of the movies to be showcased. Should be a double bonanza if one heads to Goa now, a nice holiday and the added attraction of the movies. Anyone game for it?
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2 comments:
very nice info rama. these are the kind of movies that seems to deal with realities of life than what mira nair (and her likes) does in introducing ugly concepts in india through the film media. mira doesnt actually deal with the serious issues and how those can be overcome etc..rather just shows what is supposed to be happening in the upper class society of our country, maybe just because she associates herself naturally with them. thanks for the info :)
would want to go to goa now. who wouldnt want to, now with the added attraction of the movies :)
these sort of things go unreported and one doesnt even know about such happenings. thanks for sharing
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