Documenting Queer Histories in China and the West: A Film Screening and Discussion

The Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University presents a screening of two films and Q&A with the directors

Films to be Screened:

"Nitrate Kisses" (Barbara Hammer, 1992)

NITRATE KISSES explores the repression and marginalization of LGBT people since the First World War, weaving sexual enactments of lesbian and gay couples with footage of an unearthed forbidden and invisible history.

*Please note: "Nitrate Kisses" contains scenes with sexual content not suitable to viewers under the age of 18*

"Queer China, 'Comrade' China" (Cui Zi'en, 2008)

QUEER CHINA, 'COMRADE' CHINA documents the changes and developments in LGBTQ culture that have taken place in contemporary China over the last 80 years, examining how shifting attitudes in law, media, and education have transformed queer culture from being an unspeakable taboo to an identity that is gradually gaining wider social acceptance. 

Film screenings are to be followed by a discussion and Q&A with the directors.

Barbara Hammer, Director, "Nitrate Kisses"
Cui Zi'en, Director, "Queer China, 'Comrade' China"
Moderated by Shi-Yan Chao, WEAI INTERACT Postdoctoral Fellow