East Palace West Palace

Director: Zhang Yuan

1996 China 90' 35mm color in Mandarin

with Japanese and English subtitles


The film that stunned the 1997 Cannes Film Festival in more ways than one after director Zhang
Yuan, flagbearer of the Chinese Independent Cinema movement, had his passport confiscated by
Beijing and was unable to attend the festival screening of his film. Since gay men and lesbians
have still to be officially acknowledged in the PRC, *East Palace, West Palace*'s export to film
festivals around the world (not to mention its warm reception) was bound to ruffle many feathers in Beijing.

Gay men gather at two sets of public toilets known as East Palace and West Palace near the
Forbidden City, and the police regularly come to arrest them. One night, a leather-jacketed
detective has his curiosity piqued by one young man amongst those rounded up that evening who
smiles provocatively at his captor. His feelings transparent, A-Lan begins to tell the story of his
life as a gay man. "A prisoner is destined to give himself to his captor, so I got taken in by you on
purpose.
" With those words, something begins to break down in the detective's heart.

The Film Festival is proud to present *East Palace, West Palace* as a special premiere.
Opening this program is *Le flic* (The Cops), a French short in which a young man suspected of
drug possession is violently searched by the police.
This film will be released in Japan by Tohoku Shinsha, opening at Kineka Omori in late May.


Director Profile - Zhang Yuan

Is a guerrilla filmmaker whose films are a constant irritation to the Chinese government.
His filmBeijing Busters, about young people searching for freedom and trying
desperately to express themselves, managed to evade the Chinese censors entirely.
The
Square, shot and edited secretly under the nose of those same authorities,
looked at
Tiananmen Square and its significance as the center of China
(or if you believe the party
line, of the whole world). While not himself gay,
Zhang's empathy with his gay characters
in his most recent film is striking.


Le flic (The Cop)

Director: Xavier Durringer

1994 France 3' 35mm color in French with Japanese and English subtitles


<< HOME | Programs98 >>

(C) Tokyo International L&G Film&Video Festival