The British Council Taiwan and GagaOOLala come together for 2022 Five Films for Freedom, Fragrance of the First Flower’s Angel Teng heads to London for BFI Flare 2022
In an event organized on Tuesday, 15 March 2022 at Muvie Cinemas, Taipei, Taiwan, the British Council Taiwan and GagaOOLala came together to celebrate the official screening of 2022 Five Films for Freedom, the council’s annual global LGBTQ+ digital initiative in collaboration with BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, set to take place from 16 to 27 March 2022.
Coinciding with the commencement of BFL Flare 2022 film festival in Southbank, London, the eight edition of the digital campaign brings together a curated selection of five LGBTQ+ themed short films from China, Croatia, India, Panama and the UK, that can now be streamed for free globally on GagaOOLala for the next 12 days.
Centering on varying themes of immigration, intimacy and isolation, this year’s lineup of the Five Films for Freedom includes For Love by British-Nigerian talent Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, the animated Croatian film All Those Sensations In My Belly from Marko Dješka, Birthday Boy (Vuelta al Sol) by Panamanian scriptwriter and director Judith Corro, Sunday, the Indian short from Arun Fulara and Chinese director Hao Zhou’s experimental title, Frozen Out.
Of the five titles, attendees at the event were treated to a special screening of the Croatian animation All Those Sensations In My Belly that narrates the story of trans girl Martha and quest towards self-discovery and love, and Sunday, an Indian gay film depicting the themes of desire and loneliness of a middle-aged married man in his weekly visits to the barbershop.
A special guest of honor at the screening event was Ms. Angel Teng, director and scriptwriter of GagaOOLala’s original lesbian series, Fragrance of the First Flower, who is set to head to Southbank, London to be a part of BFI Flare 2022. Voted by Variety as one of the 13 best international TV shows of 2021, Fragrance of the First Flower, a story of two women who, separated in high school by prejudice and fear, reunite later in life and open the possibility of a love they never imagined possible, was selected by BFI Flare to be screened at this year’s film festival.
Elsewhere, the event also marked the official signing of a memorandum of understanding between the British Council Taiwan and Portico Media, GagaOOLala’s parent company. The agreement was represented by the British Council’s director Mr. Ralph Rogers and Mr. Jay Lin, the founder and CEO of Portico Media and GagaOOLala and witnessed by Mr. John Dennis, the UK Representative at the British Office in Taipei and Mr. Richard Stokes-Green, the CEO of the British Chamber of Commerce Taipei.
Image Courtesy: Jason Chi, The British Council Taiwan
2022 Five Films for Freedom:
The British Council and BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, one of the longest-running queer film festivals in the world, join forces for the eighth year to present 2022 Five Films for Freedom worldwide. Five selected short films with LGBTQIA+ themes created by filmmakers from Croatia, Panama, China, India, and the UK bring us their authentic stories of seeking freedom and love. The short films will be available to stream free of charge between 16 to 27 March 2022.
2022 Five Films for Freedom: https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/topic/1394/2022-five-films-for-freedom