Founded 1989 | Language International | |
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Location Hong Kong, S.A.R. of China | ||
The Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (HKLGFF), (Chinese: 香港同志影展), known in Chinese as Hong Kong Tongzhi Film Festival, is an annual LGBT film festival held each September in Hong Kong. It is reputedly the oldest LGBT film festival in Asia, having been founded in 1989.
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Background
Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival seeks to present rare contemporary and historical films on a wide range of LGBT topics from Hong Kong and across the world. Its activities are directed by the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Foundation, which states that it "seeks to promote equal opportunities and eliminate discrimination against sexual minority groups in Hong Kong through cinematic works of art". The Festival is screened annually each September, and in Chinese is known as the Hong Kong Tongzhi Film Festival, with both the title and the resurrection of the word Tongzhi (Chinese: 同志; pinyin: tóngzhì), which translates into English as Comrades, the idea of one of its first organisers, Edward Lam (林奕華).
History
Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival was founded by Wouter Barendrecht and organized by Edward Lam in 1989, sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Centre. It was held annually until 1999, when it was cancelled due to disappointing ticket sales. In 2000, Wouter Barendrecht and Ray Yeung (楊曜愷) resurrected the film festival. They created the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Society in 2001, so that the film festival could find its own funding and not be reliant on Hong Kong Arts Centre.