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Thu 3 Jul 2025
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China’s first queer feature — a poetic, provocative confrontation between desire and authority.
Set over one night in a Beijing police station, East Palace, West Palace follows a gay writer who deliberately provokes arrest, then interrogates his closeted captor through stories of love and longing. What begins as punishment turns into a psychological reckoning.
Made in secret and smuggled to Cannes in 1997, Zhang Yuan 张元’s film is a landmark in queer Chinese cinema. It marked the first open depiction of homosexuality on the Chinese screen — daring, lyrical, and deeply political.
Curated by the Chinese Independent Film Foundation and Beijing Queer Film Festival
Focus on Queer 中文 Cinema (Thu 19 Jun – Mon 7 Jul 2025)
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