We are pleased to announce the sixth CIFA Research and Screening seminar, entitled ‘Rainbow Bridge: Chinese Queer Short Film Showcase’, curated by Jenny Man Wu, former Director of the Beijing Queer Film Festival. This showcase features four Chinese-language short films that were screened at this year’s Beijing Queer Film Festival. They portray the subtle tensions faced by the LGBTQ+ community in China as they explore gender identity and emotional relationships. Rather than focusing on explicit conflicts, they turn the lens towards the invisible pressures embedded in societal structures – nuanced cultural biases, familial indifference, and personal struggles with self-identity.
This showcase invites the audience to re-evaluate the overlooked experiences and psychological burdens of queer individuals within mainstream society, aiming to foster deeper understanding and empathy for diverse identities. The screenings will take place at 2:00-3:50pm on Thursday, December 12th at Henry Daysh Building G.11, Newcastle University. The curator Jenney Man Wu will join us in person and a few filmmakers will join us online for a post-screening Q&A session at 3:50-4:30pm.
Programme
Dive Into the Blue (dir. Gao Ge, 2024) 19 min
Itching (dir. Hongyu Jiang, 2024) 30 min
Spring Starts Today (dir. Siyuan Liu, 2022) 32 min
Love is a Book (dir. Yuqing Lai, 2024) 22 min
Jenny Man Wu: Independent Director, Producer, and Curator. She studied at the Beijing Film Academy and the Li Xianting Film School, and she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Applied Theatre at the Department of Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London. She has worked at institutions like Bridging the Dragon Sino-European Producers’ Association and Fortissimo Films, where she was involved in film production, co-production, and overseas distribution. She is also a committee member and director on duty of the Beijing Queer Film Festival. Over the years, she has been committed to producing and promoting films that focus on gender equality issues, advocating for social diversity and inclusion.