Chris Berry - Kinship and Taiwanese Queer Cinema (08. June, 2022)

Taiwan has become known for the production of queer films. They range from Tsai Ming-Liang’s arthouse explorations since Rebels of the Neon God (Qingshaonian Nezha, 1992) to the popular queer romance trianglecycle initiated by Blue Gate Crossing (Lanse Da Men, Yee Chih-yen, 2002), Zero Chou’s lesbian-queer cinema, recent dramas like Dear Tenant (Qingai de Fangke, Cheng Yu-Chieh, 2020) and Huang Hui-Chen’s documentary Small Talk, about growing up with a lesbian mother (Richang Duihua, 2016). No doubt, the end of martial law, the relaxation of censorship and social transformation are the pre-conditions that have made it possible for Taiwan to emerge as the centre of queer cinema in the Sinitic cultural sphere. In this introductory talk, I argue that these films differ from North European and North American queer cinema. Rather than emphasizing coming out as leaving the birth family behind, the key driver of the drama is how to reconcile queer identities with kinship roles.



Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London. In the 1980s, he worked for China Film Import and Export Corporation in Beijing,and his academic research is grounded in work on Chinese-language cinemas and other Chinese-language screen-based media. He is especially interested in national and transnational screen cultures in East Asia. Prior to his current appointment, he taught at La Trobe University in Melbourne, The University of California, Berkeley, and Goldsmiths, University of London.

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