The Story of the Stone gives a raw portrayal of Taipei’s LGBTI scene with a modern take on a classic Chinese love story
It’s a Happy New Year feast for the eyes with Taiwan’s recent addition to Asia’s leading LGBTI film streaming service.
The Story of the Stone is now available on LGBTI film streaming service, GagaOOLala.
The film offers a raw take on Taipei’s LGBTI scene, delving into a life of drug abuse and orgies.
Its unflinching treatment, complemented by the film’s cast of ‘twelve hunky beaus’, leaves ‘nothing to the imagination’, the film’s promoters promised in a press release.
The Story of the Stone is a modern adaptation of the iconic Chinese classic novel, Dream of the Red Chamber. Most fittingly, the story is now set in the Red House, at the heart of Taipei’s LGBTI scene.
Beneath the debauchery, though, lies a tale of loss, despair, and importantly, hope.
‘An honest look at gay life in Taipei’
‘It’s an honest look at gay life in Taipei, and a way for people outside of the LGBTI community to understand that this is actually happening next door without them knowing it,’ Benson Wu, organizer of the Taiwan Film Festival in Sydney, told the Star Observer.
The film has been selected by various LGBTI festivals. Apart from the Taiwan Film Festival in Sydney, it’s also been picked up by the QFest Houston and the Taiwan International Queer Film Festival.
After its premiere in Taiwanese cinemas in October 2018, the film is now exclusively available on GagaOOLala.
Divisive discussion topic
The film honest portrayal of the LGBTI scene in Taiwan’s capital could hardly come at a more relevant time.
While Taiwan is widely considered to be the most LGBTI-friendly country in Asia, Taiwanese voters rejected the legalization of marriage equality in a recent referendum.
The referendum results were considered to be a major setback for the LGBTI rights movement in Asia, and followed deeply bitter and divisive campaigns from both pro- and anti-same-sex marriage advocates.
Earlier this week, human rights NGO, Human Rights Watch, wrote an open letter to Taiwan’s government calling for the implementation of marriage equality regardless of the referendum result, arguing that the fundamental rights of the LGBTI community come first.
by Calum Stuart
Source – Gay Star News
