Exquisite Portrayal of Queer Sexual Awakening

To hear our interview with the two directors, click here [link fixed now].

Irvine - Brazil is often portrayed in film for its flamboyant, colorful and musical extravagance. Taking a decidedly different stance are queer directors (a couple) Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon, who have written and directed this exquisite portrayal of teen sexual awakening in "Seashore."

Tomaz (Mauricio Barcellos) & Martin (Mateus Almada) explore each other in "Seashore"

Just on DVD and on VOD from Wolfe Video, the film starts off slow as the high schoolers Tomaz and Martin visit a relative's home. The slow pace is deliberate, as I found out in my interview last Friday (31 July 2015 via Skype) with the two directors, because they wanted to portray the reality of how a gay teen approaches the topic of coming out and reaching out to a best friend, and the friend's reaction.

The directors made this cognizant that Brazil has a negative human rights record regarding discrimination against homosexuals and wanting to offer hope for those contemplating reaching out to others.

"Seashore" had its world premiere at the 65th Berlinale earlier this year. It's not their first film - they also directed a lyrical short, "Ballet Dialogue" - about a young guy and an older man - so that, the directors told me, audiences don't forget the pioneers who led the way for the current generation.

Um Diálogo de Ballet - Trailer from avantefilmes on Vimeo.

-- Daniel C. Tsang, co-host, KUCI Subversity Online.

Squared: Director Hieu Tran Challenges Queer Asian Stereotypes

  An important breakthrough short is screening at the Vietnamese Film Festival at Anaheim GardenWalk's UltraLuxe Cinema.  "Squared," directed, written and produced by Hieu Tran successfully challenges conventional views of Queer Asian males sexual practices and preferences.

To hear our Subversity Online interview with Hieu Tran (left), click here.

Turning conventional views on their head, the beautifully photographed 15-minute film, finished last October, portrays a buff Vietnamese American (Wally, played by Ethan Le Phong) who picks up buff Caucasian American (Dr. Tate Middleton, played by Yamil Jaiman) and both discover in bed that they are "tops". 

U don't bottom?

As the two characters (CUTEAZNBOI and TOPDAWG) confront that dilemma, they proceed to see who is better endowed.

Viewers don't get to see actual genitalia but the film has a surprise (watch it to find out).  It also leads to a wrestling match to see who is the stronger (more masculine?) guy.

We asked in our interview with the director why he made this film; Hieu Tran tells us it's to challenge long-lasting stereotypes about Asian queers who are almost invariably depicted as "bottoms" or submissive in bed.   He tells us that Jamil Jaiman, who is straight in real life, gives his first kiss to a man Ethan Le Phong) in the film.  Shot in the director's lodgings in the Hillcrest district of San Diego, the film manages, in just 15 minutes, to cover a lot of ground - and is an early indication of the brilliance of this young filmmaker, who would like to make films but also photograph them.

Born in Danang, Vietnam, he came to the U.S. at age 4, and unlike other Vietnamese American filmmakers from Southern California, is perfectly happy to try to break into the film industry here in the United States, and not in his native land.  I must say with this short his prospects look good. 

Lovers in bed

The short is paired with a feature film, Nadine Truong's "Someone I Used to Know," screening at 5 pm on Sunday, 13 April, 2014 at the Vietnamese Film Festival, UltraLuxe Cinema, Anaheim Garden Walk, 321 Katella Avenue, Anaheim. - Daniel C. Tsang