A glitch concerns us and surprises us. It makes us pause, rewind, and (re)view the experience again and again.    

The films in this programme transport us to the universe of the pirate distribution of Taiwanese opera, explore the erotic love between a ghost and a woman, postpone unfinished love stories until the year 2030, traverse the Castro Theatre and Fassbinder’s classic Querelle, and witness a drag king performance portraying a soul that has never felt included. These are the moments when marginal film viewing culture affirms the cinema-going experience; Hong Kong’s supernatural romance genre relocates to New York; the US propaganda archive cuts into the homoerotic performance of bread making, and diaspora and migrant dreams are mashed up. 

These narratives also reimagine worlds where the lives of the undocumented, the jobless, and the borderless could love freely, be grounded, and feel at home. Together these queer images, bodies, temporalities, and border crossings on screen reassemble our projections of desire onto the past, present, and future. 

Total runtime: 70min

Taiwan Video Club 

Taiwan Video Club follows Asian immigrants who exchange videotapes of their favourite Taiwanese opera. Their pirate distribution transformed consumer video history, transitioning stories from oral traditions to VCR sharing. These duplicated “low-grade” visuals connect diasporic women to their native culture.  

Lana Lin｜1999｜US｜14min 

I’m Starving 

In New York’s Chinatown, a ghost and a woman share a small apartment. Despite their contrasting habits – the ghost consumes paper money and Chinese takeout menus, while the woman prefers instant ramen noodles – they decide to forge a future together. 

Yau Ching｜1999｜US, Hong Kong｜12min 

Castro  

A super-8mm queer experimental film shot in San Francisco in 1996. Inspired by the works of Maya Deren, it explores queer desire through surrealism. Using found footage and Super-8mm film, it reimagines scenes from Fassbinder’s Querelle, blending reality and dream sequences. 

Tony (Chun Hui) Wu｜1996｜US, Taiwan｜9min   

Looking for Jiro  

Jiro Onuma, a dandy gay bachelor working in the prison mess hall, navigates survival amidst imprisonment. This queer musical mash-up incorporates drag king performance, propaganda footage, muscle building, and homoerotic bread making. A queer meditation on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. 

TT Takemoto｜2011｜US｜5min 

LOVEME2030 

LOVEME not now, not here. LOVEME when I depart. Two young LOVEME agents, Natsuo and Hako, are dispatched from Tokyo to Paris infiltrate Paris’ LOVEME underground in the thick of the night. They make a reservation for a love hotel rendezvous in 2030, deferring all unfinished love stories until the year 2030. 

Shu Lea Cheang｜2005｜Japan, France｜30min