Already fixtures of the film festival circuit (both gay and straight), Beautiful Boxer and The Adventure of Iron Pussy are coming to Chicago for Reeling 2004, the 23rd Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival.
The Sun Times interviewed Boxer director Ekachai Uekrongtham.
"There's not so much acceptance but tolerance of transsexuals," Ekachai said. "Thailand is basically a Buddhist country, and people feel that transsexuals are more or less fated to be this way as a result of their bad karma. They have a lot of compassion toward these people. The same cannot be said for gays and lesbians, because they are seen as having made a particular lifestyle choice, as opposed to the result of fate."
The story of a transsexual actress and model Nong Toom, Beautiful Boxer is the story of how she grew up as a boy and became a top Thai boxer. "No one would believe if it weren't true," Ekachai says.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who co-directed Iron Pussy, also was interviewed.
Starring Michael Shaowanasai, it's about a transvestite Thai secret agent, and is a musical sendup of the Bond films as well as an homage to Thai films of the 1960s and 70s.
"I view this film as a concept, to make it like movies that I grew up with," Apichatpong told the Sun-Times. "I didn't look much at references. I did it instinctively to keep the energy. I think in the past, many of the productions were done very fast. The directors could be doing many films per year. So he or she didn't have time to analyze or rationalize deeply like today's directors. You have this free-floating sense when watching old films. So I tried to simulate that working condition."
The result is a strange and often hilarious film whose comedy has a sneaky kind of dramatic weight.
"I think of Iron Pussy as a woman all the time, a beautiful one whom men all fall for," Weerasethakul wrote.
For a complete schedule, visit www.reelingfilmfestival.org.
(Cross-published at Rotten Tomatoes)
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