TO THE SOUTH: BEIJING QUEER FILM FESTIVAL

South—not just a geographical term—a metaphor for the Global South. As the hegemony of the North gradually wanes, the South surfaces with personal experiences. The Sinophone South is also a place of private aspirations for a younger generation of queer individuals; a potential utopian refuge where we might escape the urban jungle.

Short

Bubbling (珍珠美少年)[FOCUS BEIJING]22 minutes

Guang has difficulty focusing during school choir. He's distracted by something more enticing than singing. When a charismatic new student arrives, Guang's curiosity and sexual desire is taken to a new level.

Short

Love is a Book (爱是一本书) [FOCUS BEIJING]24 minutes

The film consists of two love stories, "First, Second, Third," and "Love is a Book." The former tells the story of two male lovers who begin with a sexual relationship. The latter revolves around two female lovers, reuniting after a long separation. Love is a book, and while they are in different chapters of their emotional journeys, both stories share similar, ambiguous, and pure expressions of love.

Short

When I was Walking Ahead (不曾流动的昼夜)[FOCUS BEIJING]9 minutes

A recurrence of loss and memory, an adventure of deviation. On a summer night, Guixi and Wu Zhihong, fellow mountain-born children from the same hometown, meet through the isolation of the city, two outsiders wandering through the jungle on the streets of Hangzhou. At dawn, Guixi approaches a quiet, timeless lake.