ABSTRACT
This chapter takes up Petrus Liu’s call to explore how queerness can transform China and Chinese cinema, and how Chinese experience can transform queer theory and activism. Documentary films have played an important role in early lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) activism in the West. The year 2001 marked a turning point for China’s LGBTQ movements, witnessing a proliferation of queer representations on Chinese media. A notable example was the Approaching Homosexuality television programme aired on the Hunan Satellite television, interviewing queer celebrities including sociologist Li Yinhe, queer writer Cui Zi’en and artist Shi Tou; this programme marked the ‘coming out’ of the LGBTQ communities on Chinese media. Following the first Beijing Queer Film Festival, a group of young queer-identified filmmakers started working with Cui Zi’en, professor of film theory and script writing from the Beijing Film Academy, to make and screen queer-themed films.
