Two queer-themed films set in Asia were each a big hit with those who attended the recent Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
Manok, directed by Yu-jin Lee, won the festival’s Blue Ant Media Audience Choice Feature Award, which includes a $2,000 cash prize. The film stars Yang Mai-bok in the title role as a lesbian bar owner in Seoul. However, younger queers are choosing new havens, creating problems for the business.
When her mother dies, Manok decides to go back to her rural hometown, where her ex-husband is the mayor and her brothers are eager to cut her out of the will.
Meanwhile, Hao Zhou’s “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” won the festival’s BFL Canada Audience Short Award, which includes a $1,000 cash prize. The director reveals why family members believe that Zhou, who uses the pronouns they/them, is possessed by a female spirit.
In this 23-minute film, Zhou endures a series of ceremonies, rituals, and treatments. It’s all to give their grandmother and mother space to exorcise this supposed demon girl and banish gender ambiguity from the family.
In the hands of a less assured director, “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” had the potential to slide into a stigmatizing farce. But Zhou retains grandma’s dignity—notwithstanding her outlandish beliefs.
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