Toronto-based director Richard Fung's 1984 film Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Asians—which focused on 14 men and women of South, East, and Southeast Asian backgrounds—broke new ground in detailing both the increasingly visible LGBT community within Canada and the unique cultural challenges that Asian-Canadians faced in the LGBT world, their own cultures, and the wider society. Revisiting this landmark work, Fung here connects with seven individuals profiled in 1984 (three had since passed away and the others declined to participate), exploring how they underwent an evolving notion of self-identity during a period in which diversity and tolerance became more prevalent. On the whole, the interviewees are more comfortable with their lives today than they were in 1984, although there is some nostalgic warmth in their recollections of their early coming out experiences. Along the way, some attention is paid to mild racism within the LGBT world—one Chinese-Canadian man complains that white men immediately assume he is passive because he is Asian—and one participant uses his camera time to espouse unrelated political advocacy on what he dubs the “Israeli apartheid” in the Palestinian territories. In addition, several young LGBT individuals comment on today's society versus the world in 1984. An interesting follow-up that is also a bit more scattershot than the original, this is a strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
Re: Orientations
(2016) 68 min. DVD: $80: public libraries, $460: colleges & universities. DRA. Third World Newsreel. PPR. Volume 32, Issue 2
Re: Orientations
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