Movie Screening & Director’s Talk – Queer Japan
Date: September 26, 2023 (Tuesday)
Time: 11:00AM—12:30PM (film screening), 12:30PM—1:15PM (director’s talk)
Platform: Zoom
This event is exclusively open to National University of Singapore staff and students aged 21 and above. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered attendees closer to the event date.
This event is exclusively open to National University of Singapore staff and students aged 21 and above. Kindly register using your NUS email account here. Please note that you will be asked to confirm your age during registration. For any enquiries, please email jpssec@nus.edu.sg.
About the Film
Trailblazing artists, activists, and everyday people from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality defy social norms and dare to shine in this kaleidoscopic view of LGBTQ+ culture in contemporary Japan. From glossy pride parades to playfully perverse underground parties, Queer Japan pictures people living brazenly unconventional lives in the sunlight, the shadows, and everywhere in between.
Dazzling, iconoclastic drag queen Vivienne Sato peels back the layers of language and identity. Maverick manga artist Gengoroh Tagame tours the world with his unapologetically erotic gay comics. Councilwoman Aya Kamikawa recounts her rocky path to becoming the first transgender elected official in Japan. At legendary kink-positive hentai party Department H, non-binary performance artist Saeborg uses rubber to create a second skin. Culled from 100+ interviews conducted over 3 years in locations across Japan, Queer Japan features dozens of individuals sharing their experiences in their own words.
Get to know a vibrant and inspiring group of human beings in a country with a unique history of queer expression.
(Duration of film: 1h 39mins)
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About the Director
Graham Kolbeins is a Canadian queer filmmaker, writer, and designer based in Los Angeles. He is the director of the short film The House of Gay Art and the documentary web series Rad Queers. In 2016, Kolbeins was awarded the Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Council, and he subsequently spent five months directing Queer Japan, a feature documentary about sexuality and gender identity in Japan.