ANNOUNCEMENT: CIFF and ACMI will present seven short films in a one-off screening celebrating a new generation of Chinese-Australian filmmakers who are making their mark across both national and global cinema.
The award-winning selections span 2012 to 2024 and have premiered at Festival de Cannes, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London, MIFF and more. Featuring filmmakers from across the Australian diaspora, alongside directors from Singapore and mainland China who have lived and worked in Australia, the program explores the ideas and experiences shaping contemporary Chinese-Australian youth identity.
The screening will also be followed by a panel discussion moderated by artist and curator Nikki Lam (@curiousother ) with filmmakers from the program.
Featuring:
FARAWAYS (2012) — dir. Audrey Lam
IDOL (2020) — dir. Alex Wu (@aoxunw )
THE DANCING GIRL & THE BALLOON MAN (2023) — dir. David Ma (@davidmaa )
BONG XI FA CAI (2024) — dir. Johnathan Lo (@willywonkarwai )
WITHERED BLOSSOMS (2024) — dir. Lionel Seah (@lionel.seah )
A GENTLE NIGHT (2017) — dir. Qiu Yang (@whosqiuyang )
TUI NA (2022) — dir. William Duan (@dpphnx )
Curated by Victor Tang (CIFF), with support from Ella Cawthorn (ACMI).
Where: ACMI, Fed Square, Melbourne
When: Thursday, March 26, 7.30pm
Book tickets now via link in bio 🔗
✨ SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ✨
SURPRISE…For the past 6 years, I’ve been secretly creating a TV show with my best mates (!).It’s called Shamejob, and now we can officially announce its in development with Screen Australia (!!).
This is real. It’s happening. Let’s gooooo🔥
Shamejob is a bold, subversive, and satirical comedy set at a university in Melbourne, inside the chaotic Indigenous student support centre known as the “Dreamtime Centre.”
It’s sharp, political, and hilarious mixing hustle, a little bit of fraud, and a whole lot of heart.
The show takes a bold look at power, privilege, and the way Aboriginal culture is misunderstood in Australia and globally.
Meet the deadly team already bringing this to life, with so many more LEGENDS joining us soon!
Huge love to everyone who’s believed in this story from the start.
Stay fkn tuned 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Thank you @screenaustralia ✨
KEY DEVELOPMENT TEAM
@dpphnx@senatorbriggs
Sophia McKinnon
@declan_fay
Photos: @sub_lation
#Shamejob #ScreenAustralia #BlakComedy #IndigenousStorytelling
In honour of CIFF’s upcoming screening of EAST PALACE, WEST PALACE 东宫西宫 (1996), filmmaker William Duan reflects on Zhang Yuan’s landmark queer film and the radical potential of fantasy, desire, and storytelling under repression.
Read the full piece now on our website — link in bio or visit ciff.org.au.
William Duan (he/they) is an award-winning filmmaker based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. They are inspired by deeply human stories from the diaspora. Their short film Tuī Ná 推拿 (2022) is one of CIFF’s most beloved works.
EAST PALACE, WEST PALACE screens as part of Focus on Queer 中文 Cinema, June 19 – July 7 at ACMI. Presented with support from the Beijing Queer Film Festival.
Book tickets via link in bio 🔗
📍 ACMI Cinemas, Federation Square
🗓 Thursday, July 3, 6.30pm
🗓 Wednesday, July 9, 6.30pm
A photo dump (+ journal entry) dedicated to camping under the cosmos w my friends ✨️
** start entry
We drove 5 hrs out to camp at Green Lake,, i hadn't been camping since an absolutely disastrous attempt at Wilson's prom nearly a decade ago lol,, suffice to say I was feeling pretty nervous. This time tho, I was way more prepared, under the welcome tutelage of my d&d crew (intrepid adventurers, truly - both in game and in the wild), and so, telescope in hand, I submitted myself to nature and have now emerged a changed person, william 2.0 if you will 😏😎 ,,, okay cringey hyperbole aside - here are some of my highlights from the trip:
- reading to my friends
- playing d&d in the wild
- waking up to a symphony of birdsong
- being disconnected from the internet
- stargazing thru the telescope by the lake (we saw Sirius, Jupiter, the moon, & the milky way!!)
- roasting potatoes on the campfire
- eating vegan char siu pork
- celebrating John's birthday
- philosophising about time, faith, astrophysics, language
- dm-ing my own impromptu d&d oneshot
- taking it slowww
I left this trip feeling more grounded, connected, and ultimately, feeling a deep gravity for my friends (:b)
**end entry
Okay, this is my penultimate post re Tuī Ná before I retire it online (promise 🫡🙏), however ...
I'm so thrilled to have been nominated for an AWGIE for《推拿》by the Australian Writers' Guild @australianwritersguild ! And in such terrific company too 🥲
Thank you!!! 🫶🫶🫶
PS. Hmu if you're in Syd this week 😌
📸 @chaoyang_liu
A post dedicated to my friends - my community - my heart ❤️
Entering my 30th year feeling worn & torn, not just by the ravages of time but also by the ever increasing clarity of injustice I see in the world - from the insidious No campaign to a literal fkn genocide just in the last year alone, the face of settler-colonial violence is rearing its ugly head more shamelessly than ever.
All through this though, I've found grounding, inspiration & fellowship in friends both old and new - a true salve to my aching heart & bones. If I've learnt anything in my three decades, it's that I haven't learnt very much at all and that life is only as good as the people you share it with --- thank you to all the ppl in my life, i love you all very dearly 🌟
So excited that《推拿》Tuī Ná has been shortlisted for the Iris Prize @irisprize - the world's largest short film prize 💪🫡
So lucky to be attending the festival - hit us up if you'll be in Cardiff / London in the next 2 weeks :~)
Marketing assistance provided by Screen Australia ✈️
So proud that《推拿》Tuī Ná took home BEST FILM at Queer Screen's 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival at this year's @sydneyworldpride 🏳️🌈 A full circle moment as we return to the place it all started in 2019 - when @queerscreen took a chance on us and awarded Tuī Ná its first round of funding 💕
Thank you to the jury @spizeco@andriawilsonmirza & @ainoeudokia as well as the incomparable @onelisarose & @queerhow from Queer Screen 💗 and thanks for letting me hold a big novelty cheque every time I come to Sydney lol 💸
Big love to everyone who has continued to support this film 🥰
2022 dump ～ ✨
What a wild and turbo ride !! Happy to have forged new friendships, strengthened old ones, worked on some sick new projects and released others (finally after so much blood sweat n tears),,
Feeling a lil burnt out but excited to tackle whatever life throws me 2023 💓 happy new year y’all!
*** final pic is me succumbing to the gentle chokehold that was 2022, , , dm me for the nsfw version
Hey yo what an honour to be nominated for Best Direction in Short Film for Tuī Ná by the Australian Directors Guild ✨️
And alongside the creamiest of the crop too 😭💝
Biggest hearts go out to everyone who worked beside me on this 💓
📸 @chaoyang_liu
It's been an absolutely wild 2 years but am SO excited to finally be able to present through @ensemblefilms our baby - YAZ QUEENS! Our first commissioned @abctv television project 🧡
Premiering nationwide on ABC ME and ABC iView next Sunday 20th November 📡
@larablues and I have worked on this film so hard for so long through so many COVID delays and its honestly surreal that we're just a week and a bit from launch! What a special experience to be able to create ASIAN stories for young people - the ones that we never had growing up... and how special that we have people from community finally at the helm of these stories 💓
Biggest heart goes out to Lara for her fearless direction and vision, followed by our absolutely extraordinary young cast - y'all were so inspiring to work with!! Huge thanks to everyone else involved, especially my production team @mediocrecity@mac.kenzie_james and Elizabeth Fermanis. Your support has meant the world to me.
My love and adoration to everyone who made this film possible. Full credits list incoming along with the YAZ QUEENS trailer... watch this space 👀
Our film was made in Naarm, on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung People of the Kulin Nation ~ we acknowledge and are in constant awe of the deep history of storytelling that is embedded in this country, and pay respects to Elders past & present.
