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MIX NYC 30th - Friday Night Showcase Pass

The Mirror Tells A Story And It Looks A Lot Like Mine
Film can expose us to both new ideas and realities as well as hold up a mirror to our own. The Mirror Tells A Story And It Looks a Lot like Mine is a curated contemplation of issues rarely acknowledged due to the hegemonic oppression of the peoples that face them in legal and education systems.

These personal experiences, especially those of gender-variant folks, non-English speakers, and/or sex workers are erased by society. The queer and trans community is especially cognizant of these issues: these stories look like ours. Marginalized groups arent able to access economy in "normal" ways, so they often have to live on the fringe, never feeling prioritized or seen.

Films:
Gabey and Mike
Take a Walk on the Wildside
A Vancouver
Mothertongue
Noise Opera

Feature Film:
RE: Orientations
Richard Fung
2016, Canada, video, color, sound, [closed caption available], 68 min.

This 2016 film directed by Richard Fung is a look at how we interpret our own proverbial past lives. Featuring seven queer pan-Asian Canadians looking back on a 1984 documentary in which they were featured, RE:Orientations reveals how time can change our perspective and force us to re-examine what once made us tick.

Fung's 1984 film Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Asians (RE: Orientations? Get it?) was "the first documentary to explore the experiences and perspectives of queer Asians in North America." It positions their stories and the texture of gay lives and politics at that time against pivotal moments in Toronto's history.

Seven of the original participants of this documentary see the footage of their younger selves in light of the 32 years of personal and political history behind them. In learning about these individuals and how they and we as a society have changed over the last three decades, we may draw new and unexpected conclusions about how we interpret and relate to our own proverbial past lives. Their interviews are enriched and (re)contextualized by conversations with six younger queer and trans activists, scholars and artists.

If you're intrigued at this juxtaposition of past and present, this film is an excellent primer for the MIX 30 Sweet & Silver Salute film showcase on Saturday evening.