nyc asian queer film fest
Asian LGBTQ+ Film Festival (NYC/DC)
To coincide with Pride events worldwide, including our own “Bangkok Pride Film Festival” showcasing more than 15 films from around the world, in late June 2025 we will be hosting a US-based Asian LGBTQ+ Film Festival in New York City and Washington, DC, featuring six Asian LGBTQ+ films and welcoming at least four Asia-based filmmakers to the United States to participate in screenings and events.
At this critical political juncture—one that threatens to divide rather than unite diverse voices—these film festivals occurring in tandem will forge a bridge between LGBTQ+ filmmakers in Asia and the US, with the hope of promoting mutual understanding, future collaboration, and creative ties.
The Asian LGBTQ+ Film Festival project aims to:
Empower the burgeoning community of queer filmmakers in South and Southeast Asia
Strengthen connections between queer filmmakers in South and Southeast Asia and the US
In the face of government-led restrictions and crackdowns on diverse and progressive voices, including in the arts, we hope to resist through solidarity among artists by supporting and enhancing our collective voices and power, building on moments in the recent past when such visions and partnerships had more space and support to flourish.
Asia is witnessing groundbreaking progress through organized movements that promote rights and foster hope—such as Thailand’s recent passage of a marriage equality law, and allocation of a dedicated budget for trans healthcare under the National Health Security Office.
Thailand is renowned for its vibrant LGBTQ+ civil society, which, despite challenges, has remained open, providing a beacon to the rest of the world. To highlight these possibilities and vibrancies, we aim to hold the biggest LGBTQ+ film festival in Asia as a model to encourage communities in other Asian countries and establish one more landmark of LGBTQ+ culture in the world – a bulwark against the hatred and discrimination promoted by hostile world leaders.
Our initiative seeks resources, visibility, and communications capacity for which we now ask for your kind and expert help in improving. We thank you for any support that you can provide or guide us to as we empower ourselves to unite Asian and US-based progressive LGBTQI+ communities.
Event in New York + Washington DC
- To occur in late June.
- Screening of six Asian LGBTQ+ films in each city, with Q&A sessions and forums about Asian LGBTQ+ films, as well as visits to organizations related to gender, rights, and film.
We are looking for:
Partners: We need local organizations to partner with us, to co-conduct the film festival and ideally plan together for future project cooperation in Asia.
Media promotion: To publicize the festival.
Venues: Cinemas or other places, such as a bookstore, library, university, public space, etc. to host the films and events.
Local Speakers (LGBTQ+ filmmakers or activists): to hold discussions with Asian peer filmmakers at scheduled events.
Volunteers: Translators, tour guides, designers, etc.
Films (and their directors) to come to Bangkok: We would like to invite more films and film directors to join the Bangkok LGBTQ+ Film Festival, supported by our (limited) budget.
For more information, please contact Evan Staff, evan@baturufoundation.org
Films to Include (sixth pending confirmation):
The Missing
Director: Carl Joseph Papa
2023, 90mins, Philippines
Synopsis: When an alien comes back to take him, a mouthless young man's life twists and turns as his memories untangle.
Under The Moonlight
Director: Tonny Trimarsanto
2023, 86mins, Indonesia
Synopsis: A cheerful Nur is a cook at an Islamic boarding school where all the adult students are transgender women. Here, they can live the way they choose, in stark contrast to the hostility of the outside world.
Flat Girls
Director: Jirassaya Wongsutin
2025, 130mins, Thailand
Synopsis: As Jane prepares to leave a police flat where she was born and raised, she starts to reflect on old memories including a painful story of love and intimacy lost between a handsome young policeman and Ann, the ambitious older girl Jane once secretly loved. These memories bring to light past secrets Jane has never told anyone.
Queer Japan
Director: Graham Kolbeins
2019, 99mins, Canada
Synopsis: Trailblazing artists, activists, and everyday people from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality defy social norms and dare to shine in this kaleidoscopic view of LGBTQ+ culture in contemporary Japan. From glossy pride parades to playfully perverse underground parties, Queer Japan pictures people living brazenly unconventional lives in the sunlight, the shadows, and everywhere in between.
Lotus Sports Club
2022, 71m, Cambodia
Director: Tommaso Colognese, Vanna Hem
Synopsis: Leak, a transgender Cambodian teen footballer, juggles financial hardship and an uncertain future beyond the women's under-21 team led by his mentor Pa Vann, a father figure championing LGBTQ+ inclusivity.
About the Organizers
Li Dan
Co-Commissioner, Bangkok Pride Film Festival
Founder & Chairman, Baturu Cultural Festival (formerly China Women’s Film Festival)
In 2003, Li Dan founded a school for AIDS orphans, advocating for the rights of AIDS patients and orphans in central China’s HIV-affected villages. In 2006, he received the Reebok Human Rights Award for this work. In 2007, he launched an AIDS legal project to serve the equal rights of the LGBT, IDU (injecting drug users), sex worker, and HIV+ communities. In 2011, he joined the Beijing Queer Film Festival, serving on the organizing committee for two terms, and as co-chair for one term. In 2011 and 2012,he respectively founded the Crossroads Centre in Beijing and the 1908 Bookstore in Hong Kong as public cultural spaces for civil society. In 2013, Li founded the China Women’s Film Festival. Li became a U.S. IVLP visiting scholar in 2015, and an EU EUVP visiting scholar in 2016.
Additional roles and honors:
– Commissioner, Beijing Queer Film Festival (2011–2015)
– Founder/Director, Dongjen Human Rights Education Center Beijing (2007 - 2015)
– Recipient, Reebok Human Rights Award (2006)
– Founder/Director, Dongjen AIDS Orphan Project (2003 - 2007)
Ruangtup Kaeokamechun
Co-commissioner, Bangkok Pride Film Festival
Ruangtup has been at the intersection of “artivism" and activism for over 13 years. In 2019, she founded Hinghoy Noy, creating child-friendly and feminist media on taboo topics for children, youth, and marginalized groups in Thailand and its bordering regions.
Additional roles and honors:
– Board Member, Purple Hand Africa (2019 - Present)
– Board Member, Asia Feminist LBQ Network (2022 - Present)
Joe Zhou
Co-Commissioner, Bangkok Pride Film Festival
Joe held arts management roles at Goethe-Institut Jakarta and Istituto Italiano di Cultura Jakarta before an internship at The Performance Space Sydney in 2000. Co-founder of the Q! Film Festival (2000) and Ashoka Fellow for LGBT activism, he also lectured at London School of Public Relation Jakarta (2008-2011) after early roles in advertising. Since 2000, Joe has been a film industry professional, including Festival Delegate for major festivals, Program Director of BaliMakarya Film Festival (2022), and independent producer with films premiering at Sundance and Cannes, where his latest short competed for the Palme D’Or in 2023. He currently works for Sheffield Docs and Festival Film Festival Bulanan (Fesbul).
Joe has previously worked for Time Magazine (Shanghai Bureau) and freelanced for major international media outlets, including National Geographic, BBC, The Guardian, Discovery, and The Boston Globe. From 2000 to 2005, Joe served as a founding board member of Beijing Ai Zhi Xing, conducting advocacy work for some of the earliest victims of the HIV blood-trading scandal. In 2006, he became a board member of the Shenyang Consultation Center of AIDS Assistance and Health, a position he continues to hold.
Notable projects:
– Documentary series Inside China and Man-Made Marvels
About BATURU
Born out of the China Women’s Film Festival, Baturu has grown into an internationally recognised platform advocating for equality and empowerment. Each year, we bring together a diverse array of artists, filmmakers, and thinkers from Southeast and South Asia to collaborate, inspire, and challenge societal norms.
Originating in China, the Baturu Festival, stands as the nation’s only queer and feminist cultural festival, and has now expanded to operations in Bangkok and New York City.. It strives to elevate queer and feminist perspectives in the arts and integrate them into the mainstream cultural discourse. Recognised for its impact, Baturu received the Intercultural Achievement Award from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Baturu actively collaborates with international partners to foster cultural exchange and provide a platform for emerging queer and feminist artists to present their work. Over the past eleven years, the festival has built successful partnerships with esteemed organisations such as UN Women, Movies That Matter, Institut Français, Instituto Cervantes, the Goethe-Institut, and numerous embassies worldwide. These collaborations have significantly broadened Baturu’s reach and influence, solidifying its role as a global advocate for feminist art and dialogue.