Lost in Paradise, new gay Vietnamese film

[Rogie]

The Bangkok Post yesterday had an article on a new gay Vietnamese film. It's title is Hot Boy Noi Loan, which translates as Lost in Paradise apparently, although that seems a bit strange as Hot Boy isn't Vietnamese I wouldn't have thought!

 

Unfortunately I cannot find a link to it on-line so cannot post one.

 

The film is due to be aired at the Berlin Film festival next month, and the article thinks it should be available on dvd later in the year.

 

Homosexuality is not often discussed openly in Vietnam and so a film featuring two gay men has raised a few eyebrows.

[Rogie]

HANOI — Vietnam's first film to openly feature love and intimacy between gay men is helping to change attitudes in a country where homosexuality is often seen either as a disease or a source of ridicule.

Curious filmgoers have streamed into cinemas to catch "Lost in Paradise", which chronicles the doomed love affair between a gay prostitute and a book seller and provides a rare glimpse into a usually hidden side of Vietnam.

For some, the movie was eye-opening, with one Vietnamese woman saying the bittersweet love story had changed her views about homosexuality.

"Now I think they are just like us," said the 50-year-old state employee, who did not want to give her name, after watching the film in the capital.

Others, though, seemed uncomfortable, with a group of youths at a recent screening at Hanoi's Platinum Cinema laughing and a teenage girl covering her eyes during a scene in which the two lead actors kiss tenderly.

Homosexuality remains largely taboo in communist Vietnam, where Confucian social mores, with their emphasis on tradition and family, still dominate.

Gays are routinely portrayed as comical figures or as people suffering from a condition that can be treated -- something the makers of "Lost in Paradise" hope to help change.

"We just want to contribute so that gays are better accepted in our society. They don't need sympathy or understanding. They need equality", said Luong Manh Hai, who stars in the movie and co-wrote the script.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hLhyjTgAYbxxHhH80DkrrSGDS9BQ?docId=CNG.f6c33cd6958731c760b635cae3d4d781.301]