Abstract
This article examines Chinese queer activism by offering an empirically grounded discussion of the Beijing Rainbow Film Festival. The central argument is that while the exterior image of the film festival is to foster a context for queer culture and transform queer politics, an interior view of the festival’s aim is to widen repertoires of acquaintance. The Beijing Rainbow Film Festival nourishes discursive urban experiences of foreseeable obstacles and expected coalitions, which fully embrace local indie filmmakers, tongzhi activists, cinephiles and LGBT spectatorship. It mirrors a ritual gathering, filled with conflict, resistance and variability alongside celebration. The analysis offered utilises a wide-ranging methodology drawn from urban, film, queer and organisational studies and seeks to juxtapose the tactics of depoliticisation with performative activism. In examining the relationship between the film festival and queer communities, cinephiles, (queer) auteurs, and the festival’s curators, the article first examines the film festival for its depoliticising tendencies, in line with hegemonic neo-liberal society and the dynamics of urban politics in the context of an authoritarian state. The article finally analyses the organisation’s performative practices, which I argue advance an ostensibly subversive position vis-à-vis political agents and the aesthetics of tongzhi films.
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