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Boys
for Beauty
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TAIWAN
/ 1998 / Taiwanese / Color / Video /63 min
Director, Photography, Sound, Editing, Narration: Mickey Chen
Music: Chen Chan-chie
Production Company, Source: Taiwan Queer Pride Image House
No. 92, 4F, Hsin-Sheng South Rd, sec. 3, Taipei 106 TAIWAN
Phone & Fax: 886-2-2364-3596
E-mail: gaykid@ms15.hinet.net
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Mickey
Chen
Born in Taiwan in 1967, born to be gay and learned to be a queer documentarist.
First major in English and American Literature at National Taiwan
University but closeted and unhappy at that time. In 1991, served
in the Taiwanese army and got to know boyfriend there. Happily lived
together for 8 years, eventually broke up. In 1996, finished studies
in the City College of New York and traveled around the film festival
circuit with Not Simply a Wedding Banquet (1997), my first
documentary co-produced with Mia Chen. Now single and available and
on diet, traveling with my new-born baby, Boys for Beauty (1998)
with an eternal e-mail account, gaykid@ms15.hinet.net. |
A frank and entertaining portrait of three gay teenagers and their
family relations in Confucian Chinese society. An exceptional theatrical
success in Taipei, it marks a major achievement for a documentary
anywhere in Asia. Understandably receptive to word-of-mouth publicity,
the film's charm is contagious. It's not that the boys are born performers;
they are naturals because the filmmaker provides them with a trusting
platform.
Director's
Statement
Being a queer documentarist in Taiwan, I try my best to figure out
a way of survival. Getting grants, persuading people to come out to
show gayness and lesbianism...a lot of hard work forces me to become
very very independent. Boys for Beauty is a great relief for
me, as it allows me to return to the innocence of queer youth. I learned
a lot from these flaming kids and got to know more about documentary
- the genre that empowers me these years.
Fifteen years ago, a queer high school kid like me in Taipei couldn't
speak up, didn't have any gay or lesbian role models. We had no queer
visions. At that time, I had so many queer brothers and sisters who
loved the ' wrong' one, I mean, those straight people who wouldn't
love them in return. Many of us even tried committing suicide at that
young age. Many years passed by; finally, I grabbed my camera to explore
the new generation, the brave new queer world.
Boys for Beauty turned out to be a box office hit in Taiwan
in 1999. The whole queer community mobilized and put a lot of effort
in making this documentary a legend. Furthermore, we can say there'd
been a golden decade of documentary in Taiwan, created and circulated
by the persistently hard-working documentary group Full Shot. With
such a beautiful heritage, we young filmmakers will continue our voyage
of making more and more diverse and outspoken documentaries.
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COPYRIGHT:Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee
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