LEI Yuan Bin
Singapore | 2022 | 61 min
European Premiere
Languages : English, Mandarin, Malay
Subtitles : French, English

With her extravagant looks, Singaporean drag queen Opera Tang is the talk of the town. Chronicling her elaborate performances as much as her private life—including her relationship with her grandmother—Baby Queen paints a tender portrait of a character in the making, while denouncing the City-State’s homophobia against LGBTQIA+ communities.

Opera Tang was born two years ago. With her looks inspired by traditional Chinese opera, this drag queen is the talk of Singapore town. Chronicling her glittering performances and her private life – particularly her relationship with her 90-year-old grandmother – director LEI Yuan Bin paints a tender portrait of this iridescent character. The film reflects on the struggle to abolish section 377A of the penal code that prohibits sex between men, under the threat of imprisonment. Whilst the law was repealed, the government took the opportunity to reaffirm the highly restrictive framework around access to marriage, reserved for binary couples. Based on a specific story and context, Baby Queen deploys a generous universal discourse, coherently denouncing institutional and everyday homophobia, stigmatisation and the violence of coming out, while forcefully arguing for each person’s right to intimacy, love and self-acceptance. The film pays homage to the significant yet unsteady progress of LGBTQIA+ rights in the City-State, while demonstrating how societies can sometimes progress faster than governments.

Bastien Bento

Baby Queen, 2022 
I Dream of Singapore, 2019 
Fundamentally Happy, 2017 
03-Flats, 2014 
White Days, 2009
 
 

Screenings and tickets


Sunday 23 April 2023 18:15
In the presence of the director
This film is screened with Dildotectonics

Monday 24 April 2023 17:30
This film is screened with Dildotectonics

Trailer

Photography
Wan Ping Looi
Sound
Wan Ping Looi
Editing
Wan Ping Looi
Production
Wan Ping LooiTiger Tiger Pictures
Sales contact
Wan Ping LooiTiger Tiger Pictureslooiwanping@gmail.com+6594352850

International Medium Length & Short Film Competition

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