Same-sex desire between young women has often unfolded against the backdrop of boarding schools or sorority houses, ranging from US lesbian pulp literature to European nunsploitation films.

This month’s episode of Beyond Bisexual Lighting is a focus on the Salacious Female Friendships. It’s important to note that for Part 1 of this series, the three films presented are helmed by male directors (Peter Jackson, Park Chan Wook, and Peter Strickland). All three films today are character studies that considers the structures of power within a lesbian relationship as they fluctuate between dominance and subservience. This does pose an interesting question and the answer likely depends on who the audience is. Does the male gaze exist when it’s viewed from a female perspective?

It’s a debatable (and perhaps problematic) concern and there’s no easy answer, but one which we intend to unpack within this hour segment.

Films Mentioned:

• Heavenly Creatures (directed and written by Peter Jackson + Fran Walsh) (1994) (New Zealand)

• The Handmaiden (directed and written by Park Chan Wook and Seo-kyeong Jeong) (2016) (South Korea)

• Bound (directed and written by Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski) (1993) (USA)

• The Duke of Burgandy (directed and written by Peter Strickland (2014) (England)

Queer cinema over the past few years has forged a deep love affair with the coming of age narrative: gay relationships and teen angst tend to cross paths in many narratives, and with so many other emotions and nuance.

This month’s episode of Beyond Bisexual Lighting is a focus on the Coming of Gayge: Part II Rethinking Platonic Relationships. To be fair, friendship remains an all-around under-explored terrain on the big screen. Those connections, because of their tenuousness and ephemerality, tend to be undervalued. With the following three films, queer friendships allow for the collective activation of imagined possibilities that center embodied ease, love and justice.

Films Mentioned:

• My Name Engraved Herein (directed by Patrick Liu, written by Yu Ning Chu) (2020) (Taiwan)

• Pariah (directed & written by Dee Rees) (2011) (USA)

• My Own Private Idaho (directed & written by Gus Van Sant) (1991) (USA)

Queer cinema over the past few years has forged a deep love affair with the coming of age narrative. Gay relationships and teenage angst go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. However, recent LGBTQ+ films are offering a limited view of the queer experience: one that is white, male and young, exposing their first, awkward, sometimes emotionally potent forays into queer sex and intimacy. Many times open without fear of reprisal.

This month’s episode is dedicated to the films, and the characters who grapple with the conflict between who they are, and what society expects them to be, as they slowly find their place in the world. But more than that, they push the boundaries of the narrative: What is each country’s legacy with regards to queer liberation? How does this context shape the experiences of characters?

Films mentioned:

• But I'm a Cheerleader (Jamie Babbit) (USA)

• Rafiki (Wanuri Kahiu) (Kenya)

• House of Hummingbird (Bora Kim) (South Korea)

Episode 1 dives into an introduction and commentary on three films that we feel to be essential viewing. We talk about the works of three different prolific queer filmmakers and discuss what would happen if queer films had a happy ending.

CW: dysfunctional, motherhood, HIV, AIDS, violence, transphobia

Films mentioned: Pedro Almodóvar (All About My Mother, Spain), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, USA) and Xavier Dolan (Laurence Anyways, French Canada)